The Fallen Marine
by SunnyxxxDay
Summary: A soldier all alone. Frisk just returned to her home town with a wound that has done irreparable damage. Now she has to deal with people that she doesn't feel she can have a real connection with. How the hell is she supposed to deal with the Underground? Fem!Frisk. Rated M for violence and adult themes. Picture by Sunnyx-xDay (DeviantArt) [Fell]
1. Chapter 1: The Girl is Back in Town

**The more summaries I read for Undertale fanfiction, the more I really wanted write this one. I really hope you like it.**

 **Also, I was never in the military, so please correct me if I'm wrong and I am terribly sorry if I offend a veteran of any branch of the US military. You guys are the reason us Americans can sit on our asses and read and write fanfiction. :) Thank You!**

* * *

Home at last. For a while, I didnt really think I'd see Ebott again. But here it is, waiting below me as I park my car on the roadside of the mountain pass. I always enjoyed this veiw, even if I had no one to share it with.

The sun was just starting to go down. Beautiful. I realize too late that I actually tried to say that. All that came out was a quiet rasp. I frown and shake my head. I gotta keep going. I refuse to give up. What kind of Marine would I be if I just layed down and cried when I had a full life ahead of me? A life where nothing is set in stone and anything could change at any moment.

A life that could get better.

I start my car back up and head down the road towards the sleepy little town under the looming Mt. Ebott. Though, from the looks of it, its got what looks like a big shopping center now. Maybe I can get myself a job there.

I park in one of the two motels' parking lots. It looks like a Motel 6. I turn off the ignition and pull my purse out of the passenger seat. I get out of the car and pop the trunk, closing and locking the door behind me. I circle around to the trunk and grab my pack. Its navy blue with the symbol of the United States Navy on the front.

I step up to the door and touch my neck, remembering my scar. I pull a scarf out of my purse and wrap it around, expertly hiding it.

I walk in and ring the bell. If I remember correctly, a girl named Jenna used to work here. If she still does, a familiar face is a sight for sore eyes.

A woman about 5'6" with blonde hair and green eyes comes up from the counter. First looking at her, she looks like she's in her late fourties. Her name tag reads 'Jenna'. She has not aged well.

"Need a room?" She asks. I nod, smiling politely. "Ok, we have a few rooms available. Is it just you?" She asks. I nod once again. "Ok what size bed would you like?" She asks.

I frown now. I pull her stack of sticky notes out from in front of her moniter. "Full is fine, but a twin would probably be better." I write.

"Cant you speak, hun?" Jenna asks.

I shake my head.

She peeks at my bag half hanging off my shoulder. "You a soldier, hun?" She asks. I nod and pull out my military ID.

"Ooooh, how exotic! I know of this one girl who used to live in the orphanage who went off to the Marines. Her name was-" she does a double take at my ID. "Little Frisk? Is that really you?" She asks, astounded. "Youre all grown up!"

I smile politely and nod. I really didnt know what else to do.

"Ive got a twin suite. Its got a kitchenette and its got a mini oven and we just put in a new bathtub! Its really comfortable and its as deep as a clawfoot!" Jenna says "and because youre a veteran, Ill give you a discount. How many nights, hun?"

I hold up seven fingers.

"Alright hun." Jenna says and types into her computer. "$275, hun."

I pull out my checkbook, showing it to her.

"Do you have a bank card, hun? We dont take checks anymore." Jenna says.

I nod and pull out my wallet. I hand it to her and she types something in her computer before sliding it across the register. She hands the card back along with a room card. "Room 16 on the second floor, hun. Enjoy your stay!" Jenna says.

I smile and nod, taking my stuff and leaving the office. I head up the nearest set of stairs and walk along the second floor to find my room. I slide the key card through the lock and it beeps. I open the door. It smells like pinesol and mildew. There are some scents you just cant get rid of.

I put my bags on the little table by the window. This room isnt much bigger than what a trailer should be. At least its got a table and a comfortable looking chair. I quickly check the bed for bed bugs, though Motel 6 is usually pretty good about that sort of thing. None, just like I expected.

I let out a breath, sitting on the loveseat. The tv on the little nightstand/cabinet is a plasma screen but its not very big. Maybe 30" give or take. I pick up the remote and flick through the channels. Nothing. Nothing worth watching at least. It turn it back off.

I get up off my tucus and go hang up my clothes in the closet. It doesnt take too long, at the bottom of my bag is a framed picture of me and my team. We worked well together, even though they were all assholes. It was hard to tell whether they really had my back or not. Not that I needed it. I was always covering them or saving their skins. To make it worse, they started being nice to me when those fanatics finally let me go. Like salt in the wound.

Enough about them. I set the picture of my team on one of the nightstands and pull my tactical knife from one of the smaller pockets of my bag and put it under my pillow. Its only about seven but its probably a good idea to get a head start on tomorrow. I go over to the door and slide the chain into place.

I still dont necessarily feel safe here but you have to make due. I take my shoes off and strip down to my underwear to sleep. Luckily for me, they use fabric softener. Let's see how tomorrow goes.

* * *

First thing, I got up and got dressed and raided the lobby for a newspaper. I discard everything else but the classifieds. The shopping center has an add for a a bagger and a cashier. Just great. I didnt want to be in front of everybody. Maybe Ill get lucky and a shelf stocker position will open up. There are other jobs here too but all of them require having to talk to people.

The sun's not quite up yet, so the library is definitely not open. I still have my library card from my childhood. I hope its still good. I decided to wait at a cafe with the newspaper, looking for a place too.

You actually dont know how much you miss civilian food until you start eating it again. I never realized how delicious a blueberry muffin and a cappuccino could really be. I had two cappuccinos just in case. I really need the energy.

There's several apartments for rent and a couple rooms for rent. I dont think I'd want to share a house with someone just yet.. But the houses are too big and the appartments sound terrible. Guess I really have to get a good look at them.

I check my watch. Library should be opening now. I fold up my newspaper and thow out my empty coffee cups. The beauty of a small town is that you can walk everywhere. I open the library doors. Theyve renovated a bit. There's a fire place, the walls have a new coat of paint, and there's a lot more shelves than I remember. There's a row of computers against the back wall. I head straight for them. A resume is top priority. I sign into the computer using my library card. Success.

I type myself up a resume, stating my name, my skills, my time In the service, and things that my employer should know. On the top of that list, I put that I couldnt speak and a few other of my shortcomings. Like the fact that I have no patience for layabouts when there's work to be done and that I dont tolerate any sort of bullying.

When I feel like the resume is good enough, I print it out. A dialog box pops up, telling me that it'll cost me ten cents at the counter. Im sure I have a dime. I then look up to see who the owner is, so I know his face. He looks sort of hansdome, in that way-too-creepy sort of way. He sort of gives me the creeps. I shiver goes down my spine as I try and memorize his name. Samuel Draxon.

I log off the computer and go up to the librarian's counter. "Library card, please." The sweet little old lady says. I hand her my card and I dig through purse for a dime. It takes me a minute but I find one and I hand it to her. He puts it in the register and she hands me the paper I printed out and a receipt. I smile my thanks at her and go to the shopping center. Its open as well but there arent many customers. I go up to the cashier with the 'Manager' printed across the back of his shirt. I tap his shoulder.

He turns to me. "Yes? Can I help you m'am?" He asks. I hand him my resume. He reads it over in silence. I wait. "Is this a resume?" He asks.

I nod. He looks at it again.

"Are you looking for a job?" He asks.

I nod again, fidgiting with my scarf. "And you cant speak?" He asks.

I shake my head.

He sighs. "You might be better suited for private security. Or the weapons store a few blocks over." He says. "But because of the law, we have to consider you for hiring." He pulls out a pad of paper and a pen from his apron. "Here. Write down a number I can reach you at." He says handing it to me.

I take it and write down 'Motel 6 Room 16' for him.

"Ok." He says and puts it back in his apron. "Ill call you."

Its not like I expected them to just hand me a job, but I wouldve at least liked some consideration. I let out an exasperated breath. I go back to the library to print out more copies of my resume.

Then I explore, looking for shops with 'help wanted' signs. The camp supply store didnt have one but I went in there and submitted my resume anyway. This was going to be hard.


	2. Chapter 2: A Glimpse Into My Nightmare

**Here's chapter numero dos. I hope it lives up to your expectations. :)**

* * *

I'm calling it a day. The sun's starting to go down and I'm exhausted. One last trip to the shopping center for dinner and its back to my room. A loaf of bread, mayo, a block of cheese, and deli ham. And a box of plastic silverware.

I get back to my hotel room and I don't let myself sit until I've made myself a sandwich. I put everything away into the mini fridge and sit on the couch to eat my sandwich. I kick my shoes off, allowing myself to relax. I cross my legs and turn on the TV. There's a bunch of sitcoms on. None of them strike me as funny, but it's something to watch.

I lean over and check to see how much cash I have in my wallet. Three more hundreds, five twenties a ten, two fives and at lest ten ones and various change. The receipt from the hotel states that I have at least $1310 left in my savings. That is to be left alone until I find a job and a place to live.

First thing, I should go and look at houses. And tell the receptionist to take messages for me. I wonder if I would have to pay her for that...

Suddenly, the phone rings. I pick it up. "Hun, you have a call. Would you come down to the office, please?" Jen says. I tap the receiver with my nails and hang up. I don't even bother with shoes and head to the lobby.

I walk up to the counter and Jenna looks sort of impatient. She puts it on speaker. "Is Ms. Frisk there now?" A male voice says from the phone.

"Yes." Jenna says with a smile on her face but her hands are on her hips.

"Good. I'm Gregorie Finch, the branch manager of Pete's Sporting Goods on Spruce Street where you submitted your resume." He says

Jenna slides over a pen and a paper.

"I was wondering if we could meet to discuss your application." He says

I nod vigorously. That was quick, but who am I to look a gift house in the mouth.

"She says she would love to, Mr. Finch" Jenna says.

"Tomorrow morning, at 8:30, at the cafe on 5th? Is that alright?" He says

I nod again. I'm a little suspicious of asking to meet right away, but at least it's in a public place.

"Sounds good, Mr. Finch." Jenna says.

I smile and write 'thank you' to Jenna.

"See you then, Ms. Frisk." And he hangs up.

Jenna nods. "Have a good evening, Frisk." She says, dismissing new and going into a back room.

I take a deep breath and go back to my room to make sure I have the right attire for a job interview. White collared button up shirt, check. Black slacks? Semi-check. Black jeans will have to do. And my tennis shoes are the only shoes I have at the moment besides my boots.

My boots.. They're in the car.. buried.. It was those heavy duty yellow steel toed suede ones... They tried their best to get the blood off since I refused another pair.. I can still see the outline. Its very faint but I can see it. I remember exactly what it looked like when that man... It all rushes back to me like its happening all over again.

...

Its dark, a lamp swinging from the ceiling as mortars crashed into something. Something close. I remember my head hurting.

I stay absolutely silent as this face-in-the-crowd local walks around me. He never asked me any questions, he never prompted me to say anything. Just cut apart my uniform with a box cutter. Then they chained me to the ceiling and beat me like a three year old with a pinata. I never said a thing. I never screamed. Well, I tried not to.

They never left me alone either. When one wanted to stop, he would hand the pipe and the cutter to someone else. They never asked anything either. I stopped caring after a while. I stopped asking myself "why me?". I was scared. I just wanted to leave. I just wanted to die. I guess they wanted my silence to last forever. Then, suddenly, the wall exploded and people dressed exactly like me came through the resulting hole.

My C.O. told me I was gone for three days. They thought I had gone A.W.O.L. I woke up in a M.A.S.H. tent being operated on by a doctor in fatigues covered in white everything. I couldn't feel a thing but I could see a scalpel in his hands and a sewing needle in another. And blood. There was lots of that.

As soon as the nurse noticed I was awake, she put something into my I.V.

I don't remember the next few days after that except several mutterings that I was lucky to be alive.

I remember waking up with a tube down my throat. I could breathe, but my throat and mouth were uncomfortably dry. I couldn't swallow, a tube in my mouth soaking up the excess saliva. The worst part was that it wasn't allowed to turn over on my own. When I was stable, they sent my ass back to the states to sit in the hospital until the stitches came out. Didn't even get to say goodbye to my C.O.

I don't like hospitals.

...

I blink at the screen as a commercial for a cleaning product flashes by. I take a deep breath. Letting the memory continue to the stint in the hospital. It usually calms me down enough to keep myself from panicking. I take another breath and change the channel to something with cartoons. Its just mind-numbing enough to take my mind off of it.

I slipped the scarf off my neck. Its going to take some getting used to. I notice that I don't really like things touching my neck anymore. I stare at the scarf. It was a gift from one of my squad mates. He has no taste in women's clothing. The thing is a bright blue veil-like material with orange lace flowers all over it and tassels at each end. The thing is hideous but its the only thing I have to cover my neck.

I thew the thing onto the bed and glared at it. Then I changed the channel. A show called M.A.S.H. was on.

Huh. Something army related. And it was actually funny. My laughter sounded something akin to breathless wheezing. I ought to find a way to record this show so I can watch it any time I liked.

I took the cable remote and tried to find it again on another channel. I was in luck today. It was the same episodes, but I hardly care at this point.

I check the alarm clock on the night stand. It reads ten. I sigh and turn the TV off. I guess I should turn in. I get into some comfortable clothes and crawl into bed. Goodnight hotel room.


	3. Chapter 3: Unbreakfast

**I NEED YOUR ATTENTION PLZZZZ!**

 **Hey, I know some people like to skip the author's note up top, but I would really appreciate it if you paid attention this time. I know this story is a little different since I don't really see a lot of military Frisks, but I haven't really decided which Undertale universe this story is in. I am really leaning towards Fell b/c it happens to be my favorite, but if you guys think this story is destined for another one, I would really like to know. You have a couple chapters to help me decide. Your opinion is valued here people lol Please enjoy the chapter. :)**

* * *

I woke up at exactly 6 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I suppose its for the best. I get out of bed and go take a shower. I dress in the only set of clothes that was suitable enough to go to an interview in. And now, I have to wait several hours until the agreed meeting time. I make myself a sandwich and sigh. The waiting game. I pick up my ugly scarf from the floor where it fell and put it around my neck. I should probably go and get another one from a thrift store or something. I swear I saw one nearby..

I get my shoes on and grab my wallet and keys. Now it won't be a waiting game. I have plenty of time to find an actual scarf.

I walk out the door and head straight for the thrift store. Thankfully, there was someone opening right as I approach the front door.

"Good morning, ma'am." the gangly teen says. I nod in response, offering him a smile. "Looking for something specific, since you're here so early?" he asks, looking at me. I nod and motion to my ugly scarf. He gives a short chuckle. "Wow, that thing is terrifying." he says. I move my hands and shoulders to tell him 'I know, right?'.

We go into the store and I head for the accessories section. There are tons of scarves. Of the cotton traditional scarves, there was yellow, this weird beige, black, and a faded blue one. The wool crochet scarves, there all kinds of color combinations and amalgamations. And then there was this impossibly soft red one that looked tattered at the ends but it was obviously well loved. This was the one. I pull it off the rack its sitting on and check the price tag. $1.00. This was gonna be my day.

I take it up to the counter and slap a dollar down. I take off the old one as the teen rings me up. He kind of stops for a minute and I pull the tag off the red one to put on. I pantomime taking a lighter to the ugly one and throw it in his little trash can behind the counter. I look at him like nothing's wrong and he shakes himself as he presses the button to open the drawer.

He puts my dollar in the register and he flips me a dime. "Ten percent off for veterans." he says with a soft smile.

Ok, I'm confused.

He chuckles softly. "Small town. And the lady at the hotel likes to gossip." he explains.

I nod in understanding. She was always one to gossip, that Jenna. Even when I was still a tyke she helped spread rumors. Enough of the past. I take my dime and wave my goodbye. I step outside the store and check my watch. 7:00. Great. More waiting. Might as well go back in and get myself some decent slacks and shoes.

The teen chuckles. "Back so soon?" he says. I look at him and roll my eyes. I go to the ladies pants rack and rifle through it for a decent pair of black or beige slacks in my size. It takes trying on a few to find the perfect pair. Then I go for the shoes. There's a pair of black closed toed slip-on shoes that look like they'll fit but they're slightly heeled. I frown and go over all of my options. There are a couple other pairs that look like they would fit but they're a bit too worn for my liking. I try on the first pair that caught my eye. They fit pretty snug and they don't make me look too terribly tall. I suppose these are alright.

"Hey, you can't speak, can you?" he asks tentatively as he's ringing me up. I shake my head slowly, suddenly cautious. I look at him for a minute, waiting for him to get to the point. "Well, we have a pretty large deaf community here. Just about everyone knows Sign Language." he says. And he starts moving his hands as he speaks. "I could probably teach you. Or my grandmother could. She's better at it than I am."

I watch him sign as he speaks and, honestly, I'm fascinated. I've never seen hand signals like that before. The only signals I know are the ones they taught me during my time in the military. I nod. I kind of really want to learn. It would be a real pain if I had to carry around a pen and paper everywhere.

He smiles. "I am Kevin." he says signing it as he more I see, the more I like this language.

I check my watch, not even 7:30 yet but I have to go back to my hotel room to change. I touch my watch, pay for my things, and wave goodbye.

"Come back again soon." he says, again signing. I smile and go back to my hotel room. These were so much better than my jeans and tennis shoes. I felt better having them on for this interview than what I was wearing before. I take a deep breath and make my way towards the cafe on 5th. It's the same cafe I've been to before. I check my watch. 8:10. At this point, I realize that I have no idea who the hell I'm waiting for looks like. Well, crap. I wait about another ten more minutes before I order myself a coffee and a big chocolate muffin. I write my own name on the cup before they make it and I sit down in the perfect spot by the front window. Its just out of the sun but close enough to the glass to keep me warm in this chilly cafe.

* * *

I ended up waiting two hours for this guy and he never showed up. Well, if he did, he sure as hell didn't know who to look for either. I ditch my empty coffee cup in a trash can and go back to the thrift store. Kevin looks kind of board as he sits at the counter. Poor kid didn't bring himself a magazine or a book to read. When I walk in, he looks up and smiles.

"Hello there. How did your meeting go?" he asks.

I slump my shoulders and sigh silently. Hopefully that told him all he needed to know.

"Did it go bad?" he asks. He's signing again.

I shake my head and look down.

"Didn't even show up, did he?" he asks.

I nod. I'm intensely irritated. I really don't like people who as something of me but don't commit on their end.

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry." he says.

I repeat his sign, making sure I remember it.

"You want me to start teaching you the alphabet?" he asks.

I nod, determined to speak this interesting language.

Right then, he has me mimicking him. He teaches me the alphabet and a few signs like AGAIN, PLEASE, THANK YOU, YES, NO, NOT, and the sign they use for sign language. Repeating them is easy, remembering them is a whole different animal. He's really patient with me, going over the alphabet over and over with me until I have them all down. I definitely use the AGAIN sign over and over.

"Practice in front of a mirror until your signs look almost exactly like mine." he says, still signing.

I nod and go back to my hotel room, practicing the whole way. I practice spelling my name and several things I see, just to give myself something to do for the rest of the day. This day isn't a total waste at least.

* * *

 **The only universe that I don't really like is SwapFell... So not that one plz  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Motorcycle Jerk

**Hey guys, about the universe setting... I think I'm just going to put it in the Fell universe. I have a lot of chapters written up already. Thank you to ReaperofOaths for actually responding to my last A/N :)  
**

* * *

The second I get back to the hotel, I go into the office and huff angrily. Jenna looks at me in confusion.

I write on her pad of paper. 'He didn't show up.'

She blinks in surprise and frowns. "I'm sorry, hun." she says.

I write 'If he calls, make sure to express my disappointment.' She seemed to have a good idea about how I felt.

"I know, hun. Been there, done that." she says, hands on her hips. "And it was a job interview too. He at least could've called." She shakes her head and sits down in her chair. "I'll let you know if he calls, hun."

I nod and go back to my room. I make myself a sandwich and sit on the couch. Then I practice the things I learned today in the bathroom mirror for a few hours. I have literally nothing else to do. I guess I have to keep applying to different stores even if they aren't hiring. This is going to be a pain.

After a couple hours of boredom later, I inform Jenna of my intentions and I head to the library to research sign language. It's like any language, but visual instead of verbal. Like flag and smoke signals but more personal. There's still a lot of things I don't know about sign language but I printed out a few pages of diagrams. Something for me to practice later.

Sign Language is nothing like spoken or written English. The sentence order is totally different and in this one article '100 Facts About American Sign Language', I found that they don't quite articulate sarcasm. That's probably going to be a problem later, but I suppose I should abide by the deaf community's rules. They're really straight forward, to the point where a hearing person might take real offense. And they really like being a part of the conversation.

After finishing my research, I left the library with a basic understanding of deaf culture. Still, I should always assume I know nothing until I'm told other wise. On the way home, I go to the thrift store again, catching Kevin closing up. I wave at him. I spell out for him. 'Hey, are you busy right now?'

He looks at me, considering how to answer. "Not really, but I'm kind of tired." he says as he signs.

I repeat the sign for tired a couple times before I spell out: 'Teach me more Sign Language, please?' He kind of bites his lip, looking unsure. 'I'll treat you to dinner.' I say.

He sighs, looking defeated. "Let me call my mom and tell her I won't be home for dinner." he says, still signing.

I smile. Success. I want to learn as much as possible today so I can start really taking in Sign. He sits on the phone for a few minutes, explaining to his mother that a war veteran who can't speak wants to learn Sign from him.

"Yes, mom a real war veteran." he says. "Yes the one that just came into town. Yes, she's taken up in the Motel 6." A short pause. "She's like mid 20s mom, jeez!." he starts to blush. "We just met today! We're barely friends yet!" He gets redder, fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Yes, she's pretty, but that's not the point!" He growls. "She's treating me to dinner, mom, for teaching her Sign." He takes a deep breath. "Look, I'm gonna go. Later, mom." and he hangs up.

He turns to look at me. "So, can I pick the place?" he asks.

I nod, smiling.

We end up going to a burger place that teenagers like to spend their evenings. It was rather noisy, but it's not like we were there to speak with their voices. I buy us food and all the while, Kevin is teaching me more words and some nuances about Sign. Like how English has developed several words that mean the same thing when in Sign, there is really just one sign. It's all context. He also told me that if I start a sentence in a single tense, the entire sentence is in that tense until you change it.

"For sentences, you always have to have the thing you're talking about be the first part of the sentence. Like if you want to talk about how shiny an apple is, you say [that] APPLE VERY SHINY" he says, signing as he goes. "Or if you want to describe a sibling you say MY PARENT TALL, HAIR BROWN, EYES GREEN."

I listen intently, copying his signs. He shows me all the signs for the stuff around us. Silverware, tables, shoes, you name it. He's also helping me with colors too. We sat there for at least an hour after we were done eating just so I could practice.

"Practice in front of a mirror." he says when I finally decide to let him go home. "And I know that was a lot to learn in one sitting, so I suggest taking classes at the local college. The foreign language department is basically three Sign teachers. One of them knows Spanish, another knows French, and that's about it. They could teach you the rest better than me." he chuckles. He is signing slowly as he talks.

'But you are doing so well.' I spell out.

"Yeah, but there's a lot more about Sign that I couldn't begin to teach you." he says.

I frown. 'Thank you for teaching me.' I sign to him. In correct Sign Language.

"You're welcome, Frisk." he says, a smile on his face. He looks kind of proud.

I nod and we go our separate ways. Walking back to the hotel, I notice how dark it's gotten. Like, it's really dark. I walk calmly, focusing on the street and sidewalk in front of me. I feel watched, but I shrug it off. I'm a block away from the hotel when I hear someone behind me. Looks like they stepped on a shard of glass. I turn around and see a man in a dirty white t-shirt under a black leather vest. He had riding gloves, tattered jeans, and scuffed black boots. I see tattoos on all of his exposed skin. Maybe he's ex-military?

I look at him expectantly and he pulls out a gun from inside his jacket. "Hand over your wallet lady." he demands, hands shaking slightly. There is at least three feet between us and he's inching closer. I don't move. This guy's not going to shoot me. I let him get a little closer before I act. I grab his wrist with my left hand and his gun with my right, pulling his gun from his hand. His grip was tight but it wasn't all that difficult. I turn the gun on him and force him to the ground. He's on his stomach with his hands pinned behind him in no time. I hold the gun to his head to keep him from getting any ideas while I rifle through his pockets. Good, a cell phone. I call 911 and put it up to his face.

"911, what is your emergency?" the operator asks.

"You gotta come help me, this bitch is crazy!" he sputters.

"Where are you sir?" they ask.

"A block south of the Motel 6!" he cries out.

"Alright, sir. We'll send someone out. ETA is five minutes." they say.

"Hurry! She won't get off of me!" he cries.

I smirk and shake my head. Says the guy who tried to mug me.

"Calm down, sir. A car is on their way." they say.

Sure enough, a squad car pulls up to us. I flip the gun around, handing it to the officer butt first. He takes it, an eyebrow raised. They had us sit on the curb a good five feet away from each other. When they asked my name, I handed them my military ID. When his partner looks at it, she raises her eyebrows. When the male officer asked me what happened, I asked for something to write with silently. 'My Sign bad' I say. The officer hands me a notepad and a pen. I write exactly how it happened and hand it back. It's very different than how the biker guy told it.

Looking at him now, I can see a big biker gang patch on the back of his vest. "Hellions of Ebott" it says. I roll my eyes. When they let us go, the male officer escorts me to my hotel room and the female drives the gunman home. I wave goodnight and go into my room. Man, I'm tired.

* * *

 **I'm thinking that maybe I outta put a time skip after this one. You know, she's got herself an apartment, a steady job, and incredibly fluent in ASL. What do you guys think?  
**

 **PS I'm going to do my best to make you wait for the chapters so you don't eat it up too quickly. Sorry, but I'm not sorry lol**


	5. Chapter 5: We're Going on a Hike!

**I just couldn't wait any longer to post this. You have no idea how hard it was to wait even this long.**

* * *

About three months have passed since that lovely incident with the biker.

I finally have a job. Well, I actually have three. 6am-12pm Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I am a checker at the grocery store and I restock before I leave. Nights on those days and Saturday, I am at a local bar busing tables until ten at night. Tuesdays I dog sit and I have the rest of the weekend off.

I managed to find myself an apartment. Well, house. It is a lovely little house. It's painted a sky blue with white trimming. There's an empty garden in the front that I'll someday plant roses or something in. The backyard is definitely big enough to house a dog. The bedroom is very big, big enough to add a desk in without it being too cramped. The bathroom has a bathtub with jet massagers. The first time I used it, I almost fell asleep in there.

After I started making money, I slowly started to fill my house up with furniture, dishes, utensils, wall decorations and framed paintings. I have a lovely blue comforter on a queen sized bed (with matching sheets!). The furniture all matches despite all having been bought at different second hand stores. My living room has a lovely rug in the center of the furniture to pull it all together. My bathroom set is purple. Deep purple towels, lavender wash cloths, and white hand towels. My shower curtain is purple with white lacy designs near the bottom. Even the bar soaps I buy are a lovely lavender color. The toilet seat covers are purple and the bath mat is a very light purple.

The paintings I have hanging are of landscapes, flowers, and waterfalls. The windows aren't that big so I decided to bring outside into my home. I have fake plants all over the place too, to add to the effect. I would've bought live plants but I was never too good with taking care of plants. And I didn't think that I'd have the time to give them the love that they would need.

I even hung the group photo of my old squad. They might've all been assholes, but they are a part of who I am now. I remember this one time that we were out in the field. We were being shot at by some unhappy locals. I didn't want to shoot back, but I had to. To survive. My grenade killed three men and a child. There were a lot of times like that. That I had to defend myself. I'll never forget the empty look on their faces when the fighting was over and we came back to collect our dead. I probably shouldn't dwell on it. It is what it is. I hung my purple heart in a frame right next to it along with the medals they gave me for managing to survive.

I managed to get myself a cell phone. It can take pictures, send and receive text messages, and send emails. It's very convenient. Especially if email is the only way that my bosses like to contact me. Except for the lovely elderly lady I dog-sit for. She likes to call me.

I can't believe how fast I made friends. A lot of people actually do know sign. Its a miracle. Kevin's deaf grandmother was kind enough to give me lessons. Now I speak fluently and everyone can understand me. I have a sign name now too that Kevin's grandmother graciously bestowed upon me. Its two Fs moved in the way of the sign for soldier. It was really sweet.

So here I am on this lovely Friday evening, taking drink orders and cleaning up abandoned glasses. It's almost the end of my shift and the bar is full. Then I can finally go home. I've been standing all day. "Hey, Frisk!" one of my co-workers, Mika, calls to me. I look over at him. He had to be at least six feet, this guy. He has blonde hair, brown eyes, a sharp jaw and a build like a football player. Well, he would if he wasn't so skinny. He'd be really hot if he worked out.

'What's up?' I ask, setting the used cups in the sink to be washed.

"Me and some of my buddies from the graveyard shift are going hiking tomorrow. Do you want to go with us?" he asks. There's a hopeful glimmer in his eye, a dead giveaway in his otherwise a calm expression.

I think about it for a minute. I haven't known Mika very long, but from what I've seen, he's a big teddy bear. A real gentleman, even to the rude customers. He's always been polite. He also never seems to realize that when he's trying to keep a straight face, his eyes betray him. Not a lot of people have those kind of eyes. Or they do, they're just better at masking it.

I blink, realizing that I might've been staring at him a little too long. Might be fun. 'Ok. I haven't really done anything like that for a while.' I say with a small smile.

He grins. "Awesome. Is it alright if I come pick you up? It's quite a ways to the mountain." he says.

Mt. Ebott? This is going to be interesting. 'Sure. I live at 5678 Elm Dr.' I tell him.

He writes it down. "Alright. I'll see you at 8 tomorrow morning?" he says looking up from his notepad expectantly.

I nod. 'I can be ready by then.' I say. Time to go buy some shorts. When I get off my shift, I head straight to the grocery store and buy a pair of shorts, a tank top, and a sports bra to go hiking in. I also invest in a water bottle and some sun block and chap stick. I buy a stick of deodorant because I can't remember how much I have left. I also buy a mini first aid kit just in case.

When I'm all done, I go home to shower. Tomorrow's going to be interesting.


	6. Chapter 6: M&Ms With Obstacles

**Here's chapter six everyone! Enjoy :)**

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I wake up at 7 to dress and get ready. The tank top, the bra, and the shorts fit perfectly. I frown. I'm going to break my shorts in sooner or later, so I grab a belt and pull it snugly through the loops. That should hold them up on my hips. Satisfied with my outfit, I go into the kitchen to cook myself some breakfast. Eggs, sausage, toast, and bacon. I quickly finish my breakfast and put my dishes in the sink to soak while I'm gone.

I brush my teeth and hair. I pull it back into high ponytail. I tighten it and give myself a thumbs up in the mirror. Then, I turn my attention to my backpack. I put my water bottle in the side pocket and all the things I bought yesterday. I slide on my yellow suede boots and strap my KA-BAR to my ankle. Definitely not going hiking without it. It may not be a machete, but it definitely comes in handy when wild animals decide they didn't like me. I pack a pair of sweats and a sweater too, just in case I get cold on the summit. I check everything again and put my lovely red scarf on before I peek out the front window to wait for Mika.

I check my watch. 7:56 am. He should be here soon. I grab my keys and my phone and I slide on my backpack. There's a honk from the street. I peek out the window. A green four door sedan is waiting in front of my house. There are three people in the back, leaving the front seat for me. He must have been actually been flirting all those times he went out of his way to talk to me. I blush a little before I shake myself. Just relax. Don't let it get weird.

I step out of my door, locking it behind me. I turn towards the car and I go down the slim sidewalk leading to the street. I open the white picket gate and close it behind me. I get in his car, a small smile on my face. Mika was happy to see me.

"Hey, Frisk!" he says. "These are my buddies Hanzo, Henry and Jonas." he says motioning from our left to right. Hanzo looks like a goth teen. Or is it punk? Anyways, he has black hair with bright blue and bright green streaks through it. He has grey-blue eyes and a rounded face. Henry is blonde like Mika but its redder and darker. He has a heart shaped face and green eyes. Jonas has the thickest build. He's extremely buff, like he lifts 300 everyday. He has thick brown curls on top of his head and brown eyes. He's starting to grow a beard on his chin.

I wave to them in greeting and put my seat belt on. Mika pulls away from the curb and heads towards the mountain's base. I open up the visor so the guys in the back can see me sign. 'I'm kind of excited. Have you all been hiking on the mountain before?' I say.

It's Henry that responds, his voice surprisingly high. "Yeah, we've hiked on Ebott at least 20 times before." he says, leaning forward some.

'How difficult is it? I have no idea what kind of shape I'm in.' I ask.

Jonas huffs. "On a scale of one to ten, it's about a six. You'll be alright." he says. He doesn't seem to want me along.

'You guys do this every weekend don't you?' I ask.

The other four people in the car nod.

I frown and make Mika look at me at a stop light. 'What the hell? Why are you making me impose on your bro time?' I ask. I'm actually really mad. 'It's a sacred thing you know. If one fucked up thing happens while I'm along and it'll ruin the whole experience for you the next time you go. I know from experience, Mika. One fuck up and they'll never let you live it down.'

He looks confused. "What do you mean?" he asks.

I roll my eyes 'I know because of my experience in the Marines. I was invited to go to the local bar where my unit hung out every Friday night. I usually had spent that time helping the newer guys deconstruct and reconstruct their weapons. The night I went with them, I got into a fight with one of the locals who was too pushy. We were banned from that bar and they all resented me for it.' I say

The guys in the back just kind of avert their eyes. Looks like they're in agreement.

'See? They feel the same.' I say.

Mika sighs and narrows his eyes at his rear-view mirror. "Why didn't you guys say anything?" he asks.

"We did." they say in unison.

Mika sighs again. "You better hope you didn't jinx it, then." he says with a playful smile and winking at me.

I roll my eyes and try to keep the blood from rushing to my face. This is nice. I'm still kind of mad, but it's nice. It's been a while since I've been flirted with.

Mika pulls into the parking lot of the grocery store. "Time to get stuff for lunch boys." he says, parking and getting out. The three in the back file out carefully, though they still rocked the car a few times.

I grab Mika's attention. 'Do you have an ice chest in the back?' I ask, a little confused.

He chuckles. "Yes. I have one that doubles as a backpack. Us three were going to take turns carrying it up the mountain." he explains, leading the way inside.

'I could take a turn too, if you like.' I say as we pass the display of passed holiday clearance items.

"Well, good luck getting one of those macho guys to hand it over." he says, looking behind him. They've seemed to have scattered to grab their own things.

'Hey, I was in the Marines for two years, I can handle myself.' I say frowning.

He laughs again. "You tell them that." he says, picking up a grocery basket. I let him lead the way to the snack isle and he grabs a couple things of trail mix and a big bag of m&ms. I grab myself a pre-prepaired sandwich, a protein bar, and a bottle of Gatorade. Henry comes up to the check out counter with a small bag of ice, a salad, and a bottle of lemonade. Hanzo has got himself a can of an energy drink and about three containers of sushi. Jonas got himself a big bag of chips, a small loaf of some kind of bread along with a small block of cheese, and a box of protein bars.

They were all unique indeed. We all paid for our own things and shuffled into the car, away from the creepy teller who wouldn't stop looking at my chest. We put the ice chest together in the trunk of the car. Drinks first, then ice, then everything else. The protein bars Jonas's chips, and the trail mix with the m&ms didn't get into the ice chest. The little thing was about a foot on all sides except length (its about a foot and a half tall), making it rather compact ice chest and easy to carry. It also had a nifty latch squeezing latch that kept it from falling open accidentally.

Finally, after getting all situated in the car again, we were off to climb the mountain. I stuffed my protein bar in my backpack and smile.

Mika hands me the trail mix and the m&ms. "Split the candy between the two bags ok?" he asks, pulling out to the main road.

I nod. 'Extra candy, I get it. Awesome.' I say and carefully open each resealable bag of trail mix. Then I carefully open the candy bag. I try my best to pour it even, but I really can't judge weight that well. When the candy is separated, I put the trail mix in my bag for safe keeping. I peek up in my visor mirror at the guys in the back and they're practically drooling. I guess they really like chocolate.

It takes an hour to reach the trail head and we are all ready to go. Hanzo takes the ice chest first, leading the way up the trail. We follow behind, all with smiles on our faces.


	7. Chapter 7: They Love Us or Hate Us

**And here's seven right after six! This one just needed some touch ups before it was ready :)**

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We hike up the trail for a bit before Hanzo starts a conversation. "So, Frisk, Mika's been talking a lot about you lately." he says. He's up in the front and I can hear a smile in his voice. "All good things though, I promise. But it doesn't look to me like you talk about yourself often." He turns around and looks at me, falling back to walk next to me. "Why is that?" he asks.

'Well, when I'm at work, I'm working. And no one really asks.' I say with a smile.

He chuckles. "Well then, tell us about yourself. Did you grow up around here?" he asks.

'Well, yeah, actually.' I say. 'I was an orphan living in the old orphanage. I went to school here and when I turned 18, I enlisted to pay for college. I was studying to be a counselor.' There was a little sweat forming on my forehead from the direct sunlight. I kind of can't now that I can't speak.. But I can't dwell on it. I have a new life now.

"Oh yeah? I'm sorry." he asks and he frowns. After a few minutes of walking, he says "Since you grew up here, can you tell me where all the best spots to hang out are? You know, where we won't be bothered by the high-schoolers? Places that they usually don't go?"

I shrug. 'There are a few places, but I don't know if they're still undiscovered by the high-schoolers.' I say. 'There's a swimming spot I used to go to around the lake that the kids in my year never went to. I could always show it to you some time.'

He smiles. "Awesome. We should go there on our next outing." he says.

I chuckle. Mika in front of me starts to look kind of jealous. I kind of avoid his eye and pull my sunscreen from my bag. I put some on my face and shoulders and then offer some to Hanzo. He mutters a thanks and passes it around.

"How did you lose your parents? If you don't mind my asking." Hanzo asks. Jonas and Mika look over their shoulders for this one.

'I actually don't know. I only remember the orphanage.' I say. 'I asked my caretakers once when I was ten and they had nothing to tell me. They fed me some story that I was brought by a stork to live with them. I broke into the records room a few nights after that and found out that my parents both had some serious criminal wrap sheets. One of them was legally insane and the other was in prison for life. The second I was born, the government took me. I was lucky I wasn't put into foster care.'

Hanzo blinks. I'm not entirely sure what he was expecting, but apparently it wasn't that. "Wow. That's some back story. Sounds rough." he says.

'Nah. I never knew them, so it was impossible to get too torn up about it.' I say. 'I was smart enough to be glad I wasn't with them growing up. They were some pretty messed up people.'

Jonas chuckles and shakes his head. "You can say that again." he says. "I'll trade off with you, Hanzo." he says.

We stopped for a minute while Jonas and Hanzo switched their burdens. I took a good drink from my water bottle, my mouth sort of dry.

"So what do you do for fun?" Mika asks me, a soft smile on his face. He takes Hanzo's place next to me.

I shrug. 'I really like the show MASH.. I don't really have much time to myself, lately.' I say. 'I like outdoor things like this once and a while.'

"How many jobs are you working?" he asks, confused but smiling. He trips and almost falls over a rock in the path.

I sputter a giggle. 'I technically have three. The bar, the grocery store and I dog sit on one of the days I don't work. I work tonight too.' I say and he almost trips on a rock in the path. 'Watch where you're going, there.'

"I apparently can't watch you talk and walk at the same time." he says, chuckling good naturedly.

'Then lets finish this conversation when we stop for lunch.' I say, smiling.

"Good idea." he says and the talking stops for another mile or so.

The path gets really rough but still very well defined. There are large rocks jutting up from the ground, making it hard to walk up the steady incline of the path. I almost trip a few times but these guys are real sweethearts, catching me and not letting me fall on my face. After the third mile, the ice chest is handed off to Mika.

My stomach rumbles audibly. The boys are brought to a halt. "Lunch time!" Jonas says jovially. Henry plunges ahead, looking around. He stands on a grassy bit by the trail, looking into the forest beyond. He pulls a massive spool of red yarn and a peg with a loop out of his bag. He ties the end of the yarn to the loop and shoves it into the ground with his foot in the middle of the path.

'What is this? Theseus and the Minotaur?' I ask, thoroughly confused.

Henry chuckles. "Something like that. This is how we've been getting up and down the mountain safely for the passed couple of years." he says.

I nod, impressed. 'That is incredibly smart.' I say.

He chuckles. "I always liked Greek myths. I always have a ball of yarn with me when I'm going camping in a location I'm not familiar with." he says "I still haven't learned this mountain well enough to go up here without it. Even then, I'll still probably bring it because of how often people disappear up here."

I furrow my brow. 'People still disappear up here?' I ask. 'I always was warned of going up the mountain by myself, but I didn't think anyone disappeared recently.'

He shakes his head. "Last year, a child disappeared. It's a real sad topic and no one wants to talk about it." he says, smile turning into a somber frown.

I nod. That really unfortunate.. Those poor parents must miss their baby. I know I would.

He leads us into the forest, the bright red yarn leaving a trail behind us. We trek for a while until we come upon a small clearing where the sunlight is filtered through the trees. "This looks like a good place to stop." Mika says, pulling a blanket out of his backpack.

I look up at the scenery around me and pull out my cell phone. I take several gorgeous photos of light coming through the trees. I take several secret photos of the guys around me too, like I have of my friends at the grocery store I work at. This phone's camera is really good. Not exactly Kodak, but it works. I save them and sit down in the circle forming around the ice chest between Mika and Jonas. The goods are passed out and we begin eating. Hanzo looks right at me. I see that hes thinking really hard about something. I raise and eyebrow, waiting for him to speak. A few seconds later, the other three notice our staring contest and look between us, looking confused.

"So.." he says before knocking back his energy drink. "You said that you were in the military..."

I furrow my brow. Not exactly my favorite subject. 'Yes, I was a Marine.' I say and open my Gatorade.

"I heard those guys are super hard on their soldiers." He says. Everyone else seems pretty interested too.

'Yeah, but they have to be. You have to remember that most of the time, we Marines are the first boots on the ground. If your training isn't hardening you up, you might as well be Air Force.' I say 'Mind you, that's a serious insult to Marines. All branches except the National Guard like to rag on the Air Force for some reason.'

"Where were you posted?" Henry asks, crossing his legs in front of him.

'I was posted in Afghanistan.' I say.

"I heard it rough there." Jonas says.

I nod slowly. 'Most of the residents didn't want us there. They hate us for occupying their country.' I say. "The other part though we were gifts from God.' I really don't want to say much more than that. These guys are probably better off not knowing too much more.

"Got any cool stories to tell of your time there?" Mika asks, putting a handful of trail mix in his mouth.

'Not really. I didn't really like anyone in my squad.' I say and take a drink.

"If your chemistry was so bad, why did your C.O. keep you in that squad?" Jonas asks.

'Because we were really good as a team and I kept my mouth shut around them if it wasn't job-related.' I say. 'I was not going to be caught complaining to the Sargent just because my I didn't their attitude. Our creed is to never leave a man behind, so they never left me even when, most days, I wasn't in a good mood. Guess it helps that my steel resolve kept me from being completely rude to them.'

They blink. "Did they hate you or something?" Hanzo asks.

'No, but they weren't necessarily nice to me either. Every single one of them almost completely ignored me when the work was done.' I say. 'I guess after I got them kicked out of that bar, I'm not worth so much as a hello.'

"Wow.." Mika says shaking his head.

Jonas turns his body some to look at me better. "Was one of your squad mates a Ricky Haleman?" He asks, suddenly.

I blink in surprise. 'Yeah... why?' I ask.

"That's my cousin from Tennessee." He says. "We don't see each other much anymore, but when we do, he talks about his team. He only ever mentioned you once." He says.

'What did he say?' I ask. Where the hell is this going?

"He told me that you were evasive and temper-mental. Like something was bothering you all the time and you refused to talk about it." He says.

I frown. 'The next time you see him, ask him about the bar incident. I'm sure he'll remember how rude he and the rest of our team was to me the rest of the tour.' I say. 'Though, he probable didn't tell you on purpose. And I don't remember Haleman ever asking if something was wrong with me. He'd just look at me sometimes, looking like he was thinking about something really hard. I couldn't ever get him to stop doing that.'

Jonas frowns. "On his behalf, I apologize. He isn't usually like that, but it's still inexcusable. And I think he was just trying to get you to initiate conversation. He's odd like that." He says.

I roll my eyes. 'I always kept telling him to stop staring at me but he kind of ignored me. So I ignored him back.' I say. 'I still have the group photo that Grossman decided to take.'

"He has one too." Jonas says, "Though, he never showed it to me." He says.

I nod and the five of us kind of go silent for a while. We finish lunch and we're on the trail again.  
After a while, my bladder starts to revolt. I tap Henry, who's in front of me. 'Bathroom break.' I say, taking his ball of yarn from him and unraveling it as I head into the Forrest a ways until I cant see them and they can't see me. I pick a spot without crawling ivy and do my business. This forest is beautiful. The smell of pine and dirt really brings me back to when I explored the forest at the base of the mountain as a kid. The animals even accepted me as a daily occurrence, I was there so much. This feels like home.

As I'm looking around me, I see that a few feet away from me, there's this hole. I finish up and go over to investigate. There's a patch of flowers down at the bottom. I kneel down and peek into the cave. It's kind of dark down there. I lean down to get a better look and the things in my backpack lurch forward, tipping my balance.

I really hate the sensation of falling.


	8. Chapter 8: I Really Hope I'm in a Coma

Ow.. Fuck that hurts. I look down at myself. I'm laying uncomfortably on my backpack, but otherwise, it doesn't look like I'm hurt too bad. I sit up slowly. My head starts to spin. Great. Just fabulous. I look around at the cave I'm in. It's kind of small and there's a tunnel off to my left. I look up at the gap in the ceiling. It's easily three times my height. No way I'm getting out that way. I have no idea how long I've been passed out.

I try and stand up. That's when I noticed the flowers for a second time. That's right.. I did remember seeing these at the bottom of the hole. I pick one and sniff it. It actually smells really nice. They kind of remind me of a buttercup. But they're gigantic. The petals are really soft but have started to wilt. I sigh. Poor thing was beautiful, but dying. I set it down where I found it and get up slowly. My head spins again, making me wobble a bit. Once I regain my balance, I walk towards the tunnel. Gotta find another way out of here.

I feel a breeze once I enter the tunnel. I shiver. So there is another way out. I follow the tunnel and it takes me to a second chamber. There, I find a single yellow flower, the stem sort of wilting, tilting it downwards. I go to step around it but it moves. It looks up at me and I freeze. It has a face. And its _looking at me_... As my brain tries to process this, I almost miss it speaking.

"Oh, another human." it says dejectedly.

'You can talk..?' I ask.

"Is that some sort of hand signal? I can't understand that." he says, furrowing his brow.

I pull out my pen and small notepad. I write. How can you talk? I show him the paper.

He sighs, sounding irritated. "I'm a monster, that's why. I am a being you can hardly comprehend." he says. "But if you go any further, she'll try to kill you."

I'm confused. Who will try to kill me?

"She's called Toriel. She lives in the ruins beyond..." he says. He looks over at the carved archway behind him. "The only way out of here is passed her."

I furrow my brow and look at it with him. That's where I need to go.

"It's dangerous here for humans... The creatures here are nothing like you've seen. They will all try to kill you." he says.

I look at him. Why do they want to kill me? I ask.

"Because they want your soul. The barrier keeping us here... Keeping us from the surface... It's really strong.. Seven souls are needed.. You're lucky number seven." he says.

I blink at him, almost unbelieving. But I guess if a flower could talk... It's a possibility that I'm actually in a coma right now and freaking out will solve nothing. Why are you guys all down here?

He sighs impatiently. "A long ass time ago, monsters fought humans in this huge war. We lost. Humans trapped us underground." he says. "And might as well ditch the notebook. The monsters down here aren't going to give you time to ask them questions."

I nod and sit down next to him. What's your name?

Its a few seconds before he answers. "Call me Flowey." he says.

Hi, Flowey, I'm Frisk. I say.

"Nice to meet you Frisk." he says softly.

I could use a guide. Do you mind helping me out? I ask.

He vehemently shakes his head, eyes widening a little. "This is the safest place for me." he says. "In this world, it's kill or be killed.."

I look at him. I don't believe that.

"Well believe it. You don't have much of a choice. This place will chew you up and swallow you without a second thought." he says. "And a human soul is the most powerful thing a monster can get their hands on. If they're strong enough to take an adult human out."

I narrow my eyes. You mean the child that went missing on the surface passed through here? I ask. This is insane...

He nods slowly. "He barely got passed the skeleton brothers..." he says softly. "I couldn't help him."

The misdeeds of others are hardly your fault. Stop blaming yourself. I say frowning. When I get out of here, I can give that poor mother some closure. And maybe admit myself into a mental hospital.

"She'll be coming soon. She likes to tend to those flowers back there. Hide in the shadows and wait for her to pass." He says. "I hope she doesn't notice that you've been here."

How do I get back to the surface? I ask.

"Straight to the king." he says. "I'll be surprised if you make it.. But I'm rooting for you." He has a small smile on his face.

Thank you for your help. I say and stand up. I hear footsteps coming from the archway. I do as he instructs and step into the shadows, pressing myself against the wall. I have so many questions for him. This place is already insane. I look back to where he was and he's gone. I look back at the archway as a bipedal goat creature walks through it. Her fur was white and her eyes were glowing red. She had on a black dress with a gray symbol on it. She was kind of terrifying. I hadn't seen anything like her. And she passed right by me, just like he said. I wait till she has left the cave before I slowly creep towards the way she came. I slip into the tunnel and walk as quietly as possible while moving as fast as possible.

I quickly find myself in a cave with a patch of dried leaves and two sets of stairs leading to a door. In front of the patch of leaves was a glowing diamond. I'm oddly drawn to it. I reach out to touch it... and it shatters. I feel a wave of warmth over me and my dizziness is gone. All the little aches and pains from the fall are gone. I look at the spot where it used to be, amazed. Then I shake myself. I have to get out of here..


	9. Chapter 9: Fried Frisk the Puzzle Queen

**Howdy! This chapter is awesome in my opinion. I hope you like it too.**

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I head up the stairs and the next room has six stones on the ground, a switch on the wall, and a closed door. I try the door. Locked. I flip the switch near the floor. Nothing, so I switch it back. I look at the stones. Some of them have some wear on them, a little smoother than the other two. I step on one and it sinks into the floor for a bit. It is a puzzle. I quickly punch in a few combinations before I hear the door slide open. I slink through the door. It slides back into place, clicking the lock again.

Phew, that puzzle is done now. I walk through a corridor-like tunnel with busted switches along the wall. They look like someone melted them with a blow torch. Yikes. Then I found myself in a room with a dummy in it. Like a terribly sewn together cloth mannequin. I passed it without a second thought. The next part of the tunnel is a real pain in the ass. This part was surely a puzzle too. Spikes on a bridge across some water. I put my notebook and pen in my bag, then I take my shoes, my socks, and my backpack off and toss them to the other side of the bridge. I wasn't going to play this one. I lowered myself to the edge and and got into the water. It was about chest-deep and smelled horrible. I waded to the other side and pulled myself up. I pick up my backpack and my shoes and keep walking until I was dry enough to put my shoes back on.

At the end, I find a room to my left, the continuing tunnel to my right, and the floating diamond in front of me. In the room is a bowl of something on a pedestal. Next to it is a pile of dust. I shake my head and go to investigate the diamond again. It pulses this time. Interesting. I reach out for it and it shatters again. I feel warm, like everything is right with the world. I peek into the room with the pedestal. I decide that my curiosity wasn't worth the effort and I continue down the tunnel.

The second I get around the corner, I get to these two vents and a very unstable-looking patch of flooring. I step back a few feet and book it. Inches from the edge, I push off with my right foot. I land on the other side, clearing it by a foot. I take a relieved breath and sit down to put my shoes on. Once on, I get up. The next room has a bunch of spikes lined up wall to wall. I step over, my legs easily long enough. I have this terrible feeling that all these puzzles were meant to hurt children...

The next room is one with unstable flooring. This is going to be difficult. I reach a foot out to test it. Parts caved in, while others didn't. I test my weight across it. It holds. But I have no idea for how long. I kind of wish I had a stick to poke holes in the spots that are weak. I eventually make it across, but it takes way longer than I would've liked. That crazy lady is still behind me and after this puzzle, she'll know for sure that I was here.

The next room had three rocks and three plates of metal in front of a short bridge made of spikes. This one is double wide so it looks like I'll have to jump. I make sure I get a running start and I launch myself over them. So many damn puzzles. The next room is short. A piece of cheese stuck to a table and a glowing diamond. I touch it and continue, I don't have a lot of time. The next room has this classic sheet-over-your-face kind of ghost. It'd would be almost comical if it wasn't breathing.

I walk over to it. It's actually too big to step over. And... I see that it's wearing headphones. I probably shouldn't, but my curiosity has gotten the best of me. I reach over and I touch it. It's soft, like it's got skin. Then my hand goes through it and it's icy cold on the inside.

It opens its eyes and floats upright. I step back to give him some space. "You could at least buy me dinner first." it says. Definitely male, if we're going by the voice. "You're pretty forward, human." he says. "I'd love to take you out, but you've pissed me off. I was getting my beauty sleep!" Suddenly giant black fourth and eighth notes come flying at me. I duck and weave out of their way but they keep coming. He's moved from the doorway so I take this opportunity to take off. I hang a left. He doesn't follow me.

In the next part, I'm jumped by three gigantic frogs. They jump at me all at once, knocking me over. They start biting at me like some kind of zombie. Jesus, I didn't know frogs had teeth! The one trying to get at my face is drooling and slobbering all over the place. I have my hands on his neck and jaw, trying to push him off. I let go of him with my left hand swing it back for a heavy punch. He still doesn't stop. I punch again. And again until he jumps off of me. The other two are on my stomach and legs. I grab the second by the back of the neck and squeeze with all my might and throw him off of me. He hits the nearby wall. For the third, I sit up and unsheathe my knife from it's strap. I slice at him and he lets go instantly. The three collectively deuce out the way I came, leaving a small pile of what looks like gold coins. Ten I count...

Odd... But alright.. I wipe my blade on my shorts and sheathe it.

The next puzzle is a long one about changing perspectives or something (I can't really read the plaques). I ignore it completely, being able to step over all the spikes. When I get to a big dead tree, Flowey pops up, looking singed around the edges. He's out of breath and frantic. "You have to hurry! She's on her way! She knows you're here!" he says, gasping for breath. "Go into her house and down the stairs. It's the only way out of here!"

I nod and look at him with concern.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Get out now!" he says. An explosion echos from the tunnel behind me. "She's catching up! Move your feet, Frisk!"

I nod and book it into the house, high-fiveing the diamond on the way by. I suddenly feel much better. All the bites and scratches from the frogs have healed. Even my clothes have mended themselves. I blink in surprise, but i don't really have time to stop and admire it. I quickly find the stairs and throw my legs over the chain. I skip several stairs down the two flights, but apparently its not enough. She's fast for a goat woman. I hear an explosion against metal and the sound of small pieces of the chain falling onto hardwood floor. And then heavy thumps down the stairs. I have the door in my sight.

And then something hot embeds itself into my leg. I cry out, something raspy like a squeaky rasp and fall forward. I roll onto my back and stand up again. The goat woman is standing at least five meters from me. Her hands are glowing in blue fire. I lean down slowly and pull out my knife again. She laughs.

"You are a clever human, getting passed all my traps like that." she says. If her eyes didn't look half-crazed, I would've thought that she would've made a lovely mother. "I honestly never would've noticed if it wasn't for the flimsy floor trap. And then that weed tried to slow my down."

She steps closer and I lower myself into a fighting stance. 'He's not a weed, he's a buttercup.' I sign, not taking my eyes off hers.

"Dear, I don't speak in hands. Never learned the damned language. It wasn't ever my job." she says, stepping even closer. Speak in hands? Why do they call it that? She's a few feet from me now. "Prepare to die." She throws her the fire from her hand and I narrowly escape it by jumping to the side.

I really don't want to fight her, but she's leaving me no choice. I don't have to wait long for her to throw it again. I dodge it and rush her, slashing at the front of her dress and jumping backwards. It's not deep, but it'll smart. He touches her chest in shock and looks at me with wide eyes.

"You're no ordinary human. You fight well." she says. She reaches into her pocket and drops several gold coins onto the ground. "Try not to die human. There's hope for you yet." And with that, she turns around to leave. i wait for her to be out of sight before I ease up and sheathe my knife. I collect the coins and put it in my pocket.

I pass through the door and there's a long hallway. I walk through it and I find Flowey in a patch of grass grown from the sun coming through a crack in the ceiling.

He looks up at me and he looks relieved. "You made it.." he says, letting out a breath.

I smile softly, showing him the burn on the back of my leg.

"Only one? Wow you're good." he says.

I shrug and sit down to pull out my first aid kit. I pull out the small packet of burn cream. I rip it open and squeeze it onto my leg. I rub it on my leg and sigh with relief. I look over at Flowey's singed petals and rub a smidgen on him. He freezes but lets me. I'm gentle as possible. He looks like the pain is gone.

"Are your a warrior?" he asks softly.

I give him hand motions to tell him 'Kind of.'

"You're gonna have to be able to fight to survive this place." he says gravely.

I nod in understanding. I draw a frog in the dirt and shake my head at it. Then I show him the coins from my pocket.

He chuckles. "So Froggits attacked.. and you fought back.. once they realized that you weren't an easy target, they left you money so you wouldn't kill them? Is that the story?" he says.

Maybe that's what they thought. I really don't know why they would have that sort of mentality. I nod and shrug.

"It's good that you got some money now. You might be able to bribe a few monsters to leave you alone." he says. "Everything else is too expensive to buy."

I nod. That's good advice, I suppose. I get up and head for the second door. I can feel the temperature dropping. I motion for him to come with me.

He shakes his head. "I can't. I'm too weak and the next set of caves is to cold for me to be in.. I'll catch up with you later.." he says with a fond smile. "Until then, good luck Frisk. It was nice talking to you." He sinks into the ground like a mole of some kind and disappears.

I blink in surprise and take a minute to take this all in. This is serious now.. Monsters are real and magic is real. I still can barely believe it..


	10. Chapter 10: Spooky Scary Skeletons

**I promise that this is where shit gets real.**

* * *

I walk out the door and I'm instantly hit with the brunt of a winter wind. There's snow everywhere. I go to go back into the ruins to change into my sweatpants and sweater, but the door locked itself. I sigh and look at the path in front of me. I notice to my left that there's a rock with a not-so-inconspicuous camera on it. I walk over to it and try to pick it up. It's attached to the rock by several wires. I pull out my knife and cut the wires, making the red light turn off. That's enough of that..

I walk down the path, hugging myself and trying to keep as much warmth in my body as possible. I step over a smashed stick feeling like I'm being watched. I look around me. I see a pair of red glowing eyes in the woods. That's creepy as hell. I hope to the gods above that it's an illusion. I get to a rickety bridge. I'm about to step on it when I hear something behind me. I swing around, fist up. There's a skeleton. Like one that looks like it would be an epic costume. Except that it looks way too real. I notice that it's at least a head shorter than me with red lights in the center of it's eye sockets, jagged sharp teeth with one gold one, a red shirt, a black jacket with white fur lining, black basketball shorts with a yellow stripe down the side, yellow socks and bright red sneakers that aren't tied.

It sticks it's hand out to me. "Hey, don't you know how to properly greet a new pal?" it asks. And his mouth doesn't even move.

For a minute I forget the cold and look at his hand. There's a joy buzzer on it. I shake my head. 'I am not shaking your hand. I'm not blind.' I say.

He raises an eyebrow, though I don't know how its possible to move bone like that. "You speak in hands." he says, not really a question.

I nod. 'I can't speak.' I say.

"Why?" he asks.

'Some asshole cut through my larynx.' I say. 'The thing in my throat that vibrates to make speech possible.' I add when he looks confused.

"Oh." he says. "Humans need those things huh?" he puts his hand down and puts it in his pocket. He looks me up and down. "Ain't it a little cold for shorts, doll?" he asks.

'Didn't feel like changing out in the open.' I say.

"Whaddya say I help you change in my room?" Sans says, brow bones wiggling.

I feel heat rise to my face. 'Thanks, but no thanks.' I say, pulling my scarf up to hide my cheeks.

He chuckles. "I see you're a little hot under the collar there, doll." he says.

'Are you that bonely that you'd flirt with anything that walks?' I ask. I knew I risked pissing him off but I had to go for it. He set himself up for that.

He kind of freezes and a dusting of red covers his cheeks, looking away and muttering something along the lines of "that's actually hilarious."

'So you like puns.' I say, not really a question. He nods ever so slightly. 'You know that goat woman that lives in the ruins. She's a real spitfire.' I say.

He covers his mouth, his shoulders shaking. He's laughing. I feel accomplished.

'Too bad the sun doesn't show, it would add to her ultraviolet-nce. ' I say.

He sputters, unable to contain his giggles for too long. He removes his hand. He's really smiling, it reaches his eyes, which have changed from glowing red to white specks.

I smile and pull my scarf back down. Once you get passed the shark teeth, he's kind of cute.

"I'm Sans." he says, smile still on his face.

'Its snow nice to meet you, Sans.' I say and he busts up laughing again. Glowing tears form at the bottom corners of his eye sockets. He wipes them away.

"You got a name, doll?" he asks.

Then suddenly "SANS! YOU BETTER NOT BE SLEEPING!"

"Shit.." he mutters and grabs my arm. He pulls me forcefully across the rickety bridge and towards the person yelling. I try to get him to let go but his grip is like iron. The more I struggle, the more he squeezes.

We don't have to go far before we stop at a booth with a broken lamp on the side of the road. He forces me to sit in the snow next to a floating diamond. It pulses with urgency and I touch it, shattering it. All the cold in my body is pushed out for a few minutes.

Out of the shadows steps a larger skeleton. He's wearing a kind of armor I've never seen before. It's painted black with red trimming and only covers his shoulders, chest area and pelvic region. Underneath it he was wearing this black cloth that gave the illusion that he had an abdomen, though his waist was impossibly small. The same cloth covered his legs but they were way to thin to fool anybody. On his feet he had matching boots and on his hands were bright red gloves. The tall skeleton narrows his eyes at Sans. There's a crack going down his right eye. Must've been a hell of a fight he earned that one in. It's almost as impressive as my scar.

"Good, you've actually been doing your job." he says. No, more like growls. This one likes to move his jaw when he talks. It's thoroughly creepy. His teeth are just as sharp-looking as Sans's. I don't like him one bit. "For this, I'll let you go to Grillby's." he says "But don't take too long! You still have a job."

Sans nods and he trudges passed the tall skeleton.

And then we are alone. He lowers into a fighting stance and I unsheathe my knife, rising to one. Bones appear out of nowhere, glowing red. I dodge, ducking and weaving, trying to get close to him. Then one of his bones slide across my skin. Son of a bitch, that hurt! Now he's sending them at me faster. I can't really dodge them. I can't go back, which means I have to run. I try anyway to get closer.

I get hit. Again and again. Then, when I'm close enough, I slash at his inner elbow and take off running before he can register what I did to him. He almost grabbed me when my knife hit bone. It felt like grating a thick chalk. It made me shiver. I don't like that feeling. I head straight into the forest decaying trees. This place is a maze. Bones embed themselves into the trees around me, telling me he's following.

When I can't run anymore, I turn around and he almost runs into me. I go for the neck but he pulls back just fast enough for me to miss the bone. I lift my foot and kick him in the pelvis, pushing him back. As he stumbles backwards, I go for his arms. I just want him to stop this madness. He keeps thrusting the bones at me, going for my legs. This guy is really pissing me off. I punch him in the face with my knife hand, knocking him back and dazing him. Then I kick him in the knee and take off again. I still don't have my breath, but I'm finding it hard to get close to him.

I stop and take a deep breath. I got a good distance from him and the snow is picking up in the wind, creating a fog. I climb a tree, my footprints covered by the blizzard. The winds howl as he runs past me. I jump from my tree and land right on his shoulders, knocking him to the ground. He growls and tries to buck me off I knock him hard in the back of his skull with the pommel of my knife. I had thought I had knocked him out when he stopped moving, so I got off of him to catch my breath. That was a mistake.

He quickly rolls and hops up, trying to grab me. I roll out of the way and hop up too. This is bad. I go at him again.


	11. Chapter 11: Might as Well be Aluminum

**Fight! Fight! Fight!**

* * *

My knife was cutting him, shaving off and chipping pieces of his bone, but no way in hell did they slow him down. I swipe at him, again and again. I kick him in the chest, knocking him backwards. Getting close to him was dangerous, but I didn't want to run anymore. I lunge, slashing for his neck again with my knife. He grabs my wrists, stopping me in an instant and forcing my knife from my hand. He hooks his foot behind mine and pushes.

The angry skeleton growls, successfully pinning me to the snowy ground. This is dangerous and indefinitely uncomfortable. There were several wounds to my abdomen from fighting this guy made worse by the stretching of my body over my lumpy backpack. The blood is staining my shirt and the smell was making me dizzy.

His deep, dark sockets were narrowed, floating pupils glowing red. God that's terrifying. I can feel his breath on my skin as he pants breathlessly. It smells like cigarettes and oranges. But I didn't know this skeleton had organs. I had no idea that this guy even had lungs or could be out of breath. He seemed to be doing pretty good without muscles. He had my arms pinned above my head and my thighs painfully pinned under his shins. I try and throw him off but he's heavier than he looks. He leans in close and inhales. A chill runs down my spine and my heart won't stop hammering in my chest. He sits there for a moment, eyes never leaving mine. I must smell good because he leans in closer, inhaling again. His bone face is almost touching the bare skin of my shoulders.

I want him off! I just gotta wait for him to drop his guard or move one of his legs off of mine just an inch. His gigantic hand grips my wrists and his now free hand grabs my chin and forcefully moves my face to the side. I try to resist, but hes strong as all hell. He presses his face to my neck.

I freeze. I can't breathe. He uses his chin to push my scarf out of the way, giving him access to my skin. A tongue touches my neck and drags across my skin slowly. Its hot and sticky. I gasp silently, heat rushing to my face. I gotta get out from under him somehow, but he hasn't moved an inch. My legs and feet are going numb under his weight.

I try and wiggle out of his grip, but its like iron. Hes laughing at me now. "I like em feisty." He says, chest rumbling. It almost sounded like a purr.

Ice shoots down my spine and the heat in my face grows. I try again to get out from under him. I use all my strength and I manage to lift my legs a little. I slide my right leg up and knee him in the hip as hard as I can muster. The rest of his pelvis is kind of protected, but his joint is definitely not. He growls in pain and shifts on top of me. I push at his exposed spine and push him off to my left and roll to the right onto my stomach. I pick up my knife from where he forced it out of my hand. I hop to my feet, staying low to the ground.

He manages to get to his feet about the same time I do. He looks wary this time. I touch my neck and wipe off his slimy saliva. I see out of the corner of my eye that its glowing red. That's disconcerting. He steps closer to me and I step back.

He smiles a little. Its a wicked smile. "Whats your name, human?" He asks.

'Why are you trying to kill me?' I sign, not really caring if he can understand or not.

He blinks. "Odd. Didn't think there was anyone else who spoke in hands." He says and his defensive stance eases some. "You certainly are interesting."

I narrow my eyes. Monster or not, he sure thinks highly of himself.

He stands up, easing out of his fighting stance. He holds a hand out to me. "Surrender, human, and I will spare you." He, tone absolute.

'What makes you think that I'm gonna surrender?' I say, taking another step back. 'I don't believe you for a second!'

He shakes his head. "What makes _you_ think you have a choice?" He says and his hand and right eye glows blood red, his eye looking like fire. My breath is stolen from me as a pulsing red heart is pulled out of my chest. I feel an uncomfortable tug as its forcibly pulled towards the skeleton, my body unwillingly brought with it.

I try and struggle but there is no pulling away. I'm securely tethered to whatever this glowing heart is. He smiles wickedly. I stab at his glowing hand in a last ditch effort to get away.

He catches my wrist with his free hand and scowls. "Stop that." He growls. He takes my knife and smacks me across the face. "Now you behave or I'll have to do this." His hand squeezes shut and the red heart crumples like aluminum.

Every fiber of my being cries out in pain. And my screams come out as breathy rasps.

Papyrus releases his grip and narrows his sockets again. He pulls at my scarf to peer at my neck. "How unfortunate. I don't get to hear you scream." He say, actually sounding disappointed.

I push his hand away, readjusting my scarf and holding my hand there protectively. I can't look at him anymore. I wish he hadn't seen my scar, seen my weakness. And now, my chest feels hollow.

He tilts his head at my reaction. "I definitely will have to see if you have any other scars. Maybe make a few more of my own." He says, chuckling. "Follow me, Human." The heart goes back into my chest and I drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Whatever he did to me drained all energy from my limbs and the blood loss isn't helping.

"Hmm. Not used to having your soul outside your body" he says. My soul? He picks me up under my arms and pulls me over his shoulder. Now I really am a sack of potatoes.

This is humiliating. I wiggle, finding my muscles unable to respond. My backpack hangs down over my head.

"You still think you can escape me don't you?" He says, putting a hand on my ass. He chuckles. "Try it again and I will really put you in your place.

What the hell does that mean? And what the hell does he want from me?


	12. Chapter 12: Different Kind of Hell

**Just breathe.**

* * *

By the time we got to where we were going, I was ready to pass out. The pain in my stomach was the only thing keeping me awake. My vision was extremely blurred but I could see light bleeding out of what were probably windows out onto the snow. I heard a door open and suddenly warmth blanketed me and snow was replaced by hardwood flooring. We go up a flight of stairs, the movement really jostling me awake. We go through another door and I was flopped onto my back onto a surprisingly comfortable bed. I hold my stomach, looking around. This room was huge. The bed I was on was a queen but long enough to fit the massive skeleton looming over me. Hah, I got blood all over his shoulder protector. The room is painted a dark color. I can't really tell with my eyes the way they are and how there was no light.

The skeleton touches the blood on his shoulder pad and rubs it between his two fingers, examining it. He forces my weak hands away from my stomach and lifts up my shirt. I push his hands away quickly as he starts touching my cuts. They're deeper than I originally thought. Him touching it hurt like a son of a bitch. I curl into myself to try and prevent him from touching them again. If I'm going to bleed to death, I'd want it on my own terms, thank you very much.

He growls and forces my knees away from my chest. "Stop it!" he growls. He puts his palm on my stomach and squeezes. I can't help the rasp of pain that emits from my throat. It was burning like a thousand suns. I jerked and tried to get away from the pain but he had a firm hand on my shoulder, keeping me in place. And then it suddenly stopped. I passed out.

When I wake up, I immediately notice that my clothes are missing. It's really dark but I can tell that I'm laying on the bed I was tossed on. I roll onto my side and my head touches something I never expected. The skeleton is laying there next to me, sleeping. He's just as naked as I am, as far as I can see. Just as I expected, he's all bones. Not a speck of skin of any other kind of flesh. His rib cage is so weird. He has way more ribs than I have and there is no space in between them. I briefly wonder how his bones are held together, but then my focus goes to the door. I sit up slowly. I look towards what looks to be the entrance to the room.

I try my best not to jostle the bed around as I slide towards the door. His foot extends and blocks my path. "Get back here." he growls tiredly. I freeze. His foot is massive. My breath is stolen from me and I'm dragged backwards. My chest feels cold until I stop. He puts his bony arm around my waist and pins me firmly before going back to sleep. I don't have a blanket either. The room isn't cold, but I feel so exposed. I cross my arms over my chest and fold my knees towards my chest as far as they'll go. His arm is massive. I feel so damn defenseless. My scarf is even gone. I look more closely around the room and notice my backpack on an office chair, the contents laid across the desk. My extra clothes looked to be still folded, my phone sitting on top of it. My knife is not among them.

I wish his arm didn't weigh a ton. I try and lift it up gently but it's like it weighs as much as a truck. He's snoring, kind of, so he might be dead asleep. I look at him. His bed is against the wall and he's on the outside. Should I risk pissing him off just for my clothes? I really don't give two shits about someone who captured me and then took my clothes. He obviously has no respect for me. I will not be in captivity. I lay down slowly, facing him. I will not put my back to this monster. I turn my body onto my stomach and so my feet are braced against the wall. I brace my hands against his hip bone and the center of his chest and I use my legs to push. He easily rolls off, making a loud THUMP. Before he can get his bearings, I hop up and hop over him to my clothes. I act like nothing happened and put my sweater and sweatpants on. He groans and gets up quickly. He forcefully grabs my arm and pulls me around.

"What..the..fuck?" he asks, his seething calm completely unnerving.

I lower my eyelids, keeping my expression calm. 'I don't like being naked around complete strangers.' I sign simply.

"Bullshit. Now go back to bed." he growls. He tries to jerk me back towards the bed.

Hell no. I fight with all the strength in my legs. This seems to surprise him. But only slightly. He turns back to me and I jerk my arm out of his hand and grab my phone and my watch. I secure my watch on my wrist and tap my phone screen, turning it on. It's almost 5pm. Wonderful. If it's bed time for him, then this place runs at a different schedule. No reception either. Well, considering how far under the mountain I must be, it's not surprising.

He snatches it from me and struggles to get the screen to work. Bones are not fingers.

I snatch it back before he can break it out of frustration. I slide the home screen back and forth for him, trying to keep the irritation off my face. So stupid. Does he not think that maybe human tech can only be used and operated by humans? Or someone with more skin than him? Damn ridiculous. 'Only works for flesh, stupid.' I say.

He growls. "Show me how your phone works." he says, fists clenching. Guess he doesn't like being at the mercy of others. "Show me or I break it." he adds at my hesitation.

I narrow my eyes at him and tap make him look at all the home screen apps. The contacts, messaging, dialer, and calendar are pretty self explanatory. 'Does all the stuff regular phones do.' I say 'It's got a camera and a front facing camera and some games on it, but that's about it.' I do not want to do this. But it's not like I can just disappear. And he's fast for a someone with no muscles.

"Is that all?" he asks.

I roll my eyes. I want to turn around to put my stuff back into my backpack, but I really don't want to turn my back to him. I reach behind me and find my Gatorade bottle. I pick it up and glance at it before unscrewing the cap and taking a drink. My eyes are on his. When I'm done, I screw the cap back on and adjust my sweater so my neck is hidden.

He watches me in total silence. Then suddenly "Show me your pictures."

I blink in surprise and then narrow my eyes at him. 'What are you, my mother?' I snap at him. I shove my phone in my pants pocket, to prove a point.

"Show me now." he says that seething calm back again. He steps closer and looms over me. It was damn terrifying, but I wasn't going to let him see that.

'Feed me first.' I say, crossing my arms. To hell if I was going to do it for free.

"How about I kill you instead?" he growls grabbing the front of my shirt. Classic bully.

'If you wanted me dead, you would've done it hours ago.' I say, flicking his forehead.

He growls angrily and raises a fist to hit me. I react and nail him in the same hip as last time. He lets go and I punch him as hard as physically possible in the jaw. I felt several bones snap and he staggers backwards. I shake my hands and stare him down as he comes to his senses. Fucking hurts more than anything he's done to me during our fight, but his jaw is dislocated. Good.

He painstakingly snaps it back into place and glares at me. My hand is starting to swell. I could care less right now. I take a step towards the door and he narrows his eyes. I huff and walk my way all the way to the door, leaving him to hobble behind me in pain. I open the door and notice that we are on the second floor. I look to my left and see two doors. One closed and the other cracked open. The one that's open is a bathroom. I stride towards it and shut the door behind me. The last time I went was above ground. What a skeleton needs a bathroom for is beyond me. Well, the shower I could see them using, but not the toilet. Jesus I look like shit. My skin was blotchy from the fight with the goat lady and my hair was all kinds of messed up. I quickly fix my hair, wash my hands, and leave the bathroom. The angry skeleton is standing in front of his door, this time in a shirt and jeans. He has what looks like a collar in his hands.

Fuck that happy crap. I hop over the railing and land on the couch on the first floor, startling the one that calls himself Sans from his sleep. I bolt for the only remaining room and close the door behind me. I push a shelf full of dishes against it and barricade myself in the kitchen. "Damn it, human! Open up this instant!" the tall skeleton says, banging on the door. Turn my back and lock the second door that seems to lead outside.

When I feel safe enough, I poke my nose in their fridge. Even through his banging, he must have heard me open the fridge. "Don't you fucking touch anything!" he growls.

I roll my eyes. The banging starts to shake the whole room. Starts to sound like mortars...

I take a deep breath. And then another. I am not back in that desert. I will never go back to that desert. But I am in a whole different kind of hell.

* * *

 **Hey guys, let me know what you think! Plz review :)**


	13. Chapter 13:Cant Think of a Clever Name

**Let's bake! :D**

* * *

The food in the fridge is all labeled either 'Papyrus' or 'Sans'. I look at all the Papyrus ones, searching for a decent meal.

The banging has stopped. I sigh in relief.

None of their left overs look appealing. I close the fridge and poke around in their cupboards. Lots of pasta and pasta sauces in all different flavors. Great. Too many damn carbs. I poke my head in the fridge for eggs and milk. I find oil, salt, flour, (surprisingly yeast) and baking powder above the stove. If I can remember the recipe correctly I should be able to make a pizza. I know I'm not hungry right this second, but I will be. I find a bowl and a round baking sheet. I mix the ingredients in a bowl and nod in satisfaction when the consistency comes out just right. I look up and around for an apron. I find one in a drawer with dish towels. I grab it and a towel. Once the towel is on, I spread flour all over the counter.

I wait about an hour like the recipe had asked. I was, surprisingly, left in peace the whole time. My hand has swollen like a balloon. I turn the oven on to a low heat before I bathe my hands in the flour and start kneading the dough on the counter. Fucking hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, but I refuse to not get to eat pizza before I end up dying in this hell-hole.

I get I kneaded pretty well before I start looking for a rolling pin. I totally missed it on the wall during my initial glance around the room. I pull it off the wall and roll it flat. Definitely didn't help my hand one bit. When it's flat and round enough, I pick it up and start twirling it like they do in the movies. Apparently I'm a natural, because I didn't put a single hole in the middle. I set it flat on the counter and start folding in the crust, that done, I pull out butter and a block of cheese from the fridge. I melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave and I pull down a jar of spaghetti sauce. This will have to do.

I spread the sauce onto the dough and put the dough on the baking sheet. I find myself the shredder and begin shredding the cheese onto the dough. This was most painful part. When it's covered to my satisfaction, I pull the butter out of the microwave and pour it sparingly onto the crust. Once it's basted and garlic salted, I turn up the oven and shove it in there. Should take about fifteen minutes. I wash my hands in cold water and clean up the counter. (The cleaning solutions were under the sink.) I shove the used dishes in the sink to soak and I put away the extra ingredients.

I sit down at the table and look at my swollen hand with broken fingers. Needs ice something fierce. I look in their freezer and find myself a frozen slab of meat to put on my hand. I'm not even going to think about what kind of animal it came from. If it is from an animal. It'll feel better once it's numb. This kitchen is the only normal assed thing in this whole crazy place. That and the bathroom. I sigh, putting my feet up on the table.

The back door swings open, banging against the wall. I jump but school my expression to a board one to look up at the seething Papyrus. 'What took you so long?' I sign lazily with one hand. A door didn't have a lock if it didn't have a key, after all. He looks like he's about to explode, his eye glowing red fire again. I will not be bullied by this asshole. He takes slow steps towards me and stops to loom over me. I keep myself from showing any emotion. The smell of my pizza permeates the room.

"What the fuck did you make?" he growls.

'Food. You really don't have a brain in there, do you?' I say. He slaps me. My reaction is to punch him in the sore hip. This time, he falls on his ass.

"Fuck! Lay off my damn hip woman!" he growls, holding it.

'Then don't touch me.' I say glaring at him. I get up, leaving the meat on the table and step over him to the oven to peek in. The dough isn't brown yet. I sigh silently and make my way back to my chair. He grabs my leg and forces me to fall into his lap. I go to hit him with my uninjured hand but he grabs it with that iron grip of his. I fight him and he brings my hurt hand up to his eyes. I try and pull away, but again, he is so much stronger than me. He presses it against his teeth. My first thought is that he was going to bite it off, so I resist with a fury. An orange glow engulfs my hand and the swelling immediately goes down, the pain ebbing away. When it stops, I flex it. Totally fixed. That shouldn't happen... It's impossible.

He lets go of both my hands and I examine my miraculously healed hand. How did he do that? Nanobots? Magic doesn't exist... At least I thought it did... I still can't accept it, even after the pyro goat lady. Everything is damn backwards down here. I look at Papyrus, confused but he's got this smug smile on his face. Cocky bastard. I narrow my eyes and glare at him. I get up from his lap and put the meat back into the freezer. I wash my hands again and I hear him get up off the floor. A drawer opens and instantly my instincts kick in. I quickly turn around and he presses a knife to my throat.

No. No. No. No NO NO NO!

I grab the knife and pull it out of his hand. I ram it in between his collar bone and his ribs, wedging it like a door jam. I lift my legs up past the counter to push him backwards with both legs and make a mad-dash outside. I can see it happening to me over and over...

No nononononONONONONOoo

I run around the house and quickly go in the front door, not wanting to freeze to death. The snow was killer on my bare feet, but I keep going. I bolt for his room and barricade myself once again. I push whatever I can against the door, glad that it opens inward.

I curl up against the back wall and try to breathe. Every time I close my eyes, I see it. It won't go away.. I slowly get up. I can feel myself shaking but I have to find my knife. First drawer in his desk. I clutch it to my chest and unsheathe it. I refuse to let it happen to me again. This room is dark but I can see a window. I find my boots hidden in another drawer and quickly shove them on, foregoing socks for necessity's sake. I pack all of my things back into my backpack and strap it on. I can't seem to breathe, but my entire being is screaming to leave. I gotta get out. I gotta get out. I gotta get out! I slide up the window and there's a thump behind me. I twist around, raising my knife and bending my knees a little. It's two of the men who hurt me. How the hell did they get in? I'm not safe...

The tall one raises his hands, a smooth, unreadable expression on his face. There's a mark on his chest like some one slashed at him with a knife. Apparently it didn't do too much damage because he's still moving. I press myself against the wall, ready to jump out the window. "Calm down, human." he says slowly. His voice is familiar. Now I'm really confused. They never spoke English before. "Sans, leave, I got this." he adds quietly. The short one nods and disappears. HOW THE FUCK IS HE DOING THAT?!

"Human, if you don't calm down, I'm going to have to sedate you." The tall one says says.

I shake my head, closing my eyes tight. I'm hyperventilating, my limbs are shaking, and I can barely see what's in front of me. I'm in my uniform again and the person I see in front of me is the man who almost killed me. "Stay away!" I try to shout, but it comes out as an unintelligible rasp. He steps closer and I swing at him with my knife. He easily avoids it. I can't focus. He takes another step and I swing. He catches my wrist and easily disarms me. I feel the sting of a needle in my leg and everything goes black.

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 **I'm just going to go ahead and say that I personally have never experienced anything like this and I have never experienced PTSD. For those brave souls out there that do, I hope you have a loving family around you to help you through it.**


	14. Chapter 14:Pizza Before I Die

**I'm sorry! I didn't mean to mke you wait so long. And I apologize that I didn't have too much time to edit one more time before posting. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Even the apostrophe guest lol**

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I wake up on the bed again. My head hurts, something fierce. And the light's on for once.

I blink as I get used to the brightness. I roll onto my side and I look around. There's an actual color to the walls. It's a light blue. And the carpet seems to be navy blue.

Okay..

I sit up slowly, my head pounding. My clothes are folded next to me. And they took my shoes off of me. I check my shorts pocket. Surprisingly the money is still there. I take off my sweater and put my bra and tank top on. It looks like it was haphazardly repaired. The result looks like a misshapen snowflake.

I shrug. It was cheap anyway. I take off the sweatpants and puts on my underwear and my shorts. My belt was there too, so I put that on. I notice my scarf wrapped around the head board. I almost start to cry. I rush over to it and hold it up to my face. It's just as soft as before, but now it smells fruity instead of my floral detergent.

I want to go home. A tear escapes my eye. I don't want to ever experience that sort of thing again. I almost killed him.. He had to sedate me.. I was scared...

I have to get home...

Another falls and I can't hold up the floodgate. I lower myself to the floor and let myself cry. My chest hurts from where Papyrus had to get under my defenses. My wrists hurt too... I look at them. They're a little bruised. And my knife is missing again. I'm exhausted but I have to find it again..

The tears don't seem to want to stop until I hear the door squeak open. I freeze and turn my head to look. It's Papyrus and he looks pissed, like always. I wipe my eyes and remove the emotion from my face. 'What?' I sign.

"If you don't come down and eat, your concoction will get cold." he says and turns around to leave.

That was surprising. He didn't yell, he didn't growl, and he didn't try to grab me and force me to go down with him. With shaky hands, I wrap the scarf around my neck.

I kind of want to stay here.. Where its quiet... Where I don't have anyone staring at me. I want to grab my things and jump out the window. I get up slowly, trying to even out my breathing.

I walk out the door and slowly pad my way down the stairs. I make my way to the kitchen. My pizza was on a plate and steaming hot. It didn't look like it burned in the oven which is good. Sans and Papyrus were there, drinking coffee and tea respectively.

I sit down warily and poke the pizza on my plate. The rest of it is sitting on the stove, only two slices cut out of it. Thankgully, its cooled down enough to eat. I pick it up and take a bite. Its odd because of the sauce, but its good enough. They blatantly stare at me. I really wish that they wouldn't.

Papyrus is wearing his armor again. Don't know why I didn't notice that... Sans is wearing his usual clothes.

When he notices me eyeing him, he grins, gold tooth glinting in the light. I roll my eyes and go back to my pizza. I eat it as slow as possible. When I look up at them again, they're still staring.

'This isn't a circus.' I say glaring at them.

Sans scoffs. "It was yesterday." He says sipping his coffee.

I narrow my eyes at him, but I don't say anything. I don't even want to think about it.

"Are you a warrior? Your LV is the highest I've seen." Papyrus says.

'You could say that.' I say between bites. I don't quite understand LV but if its anything like gaming levels, then I guess that I am.

He raises an eyebrow. "Have you been in many battles?" He asks.

I probably shouldn't be answering his questions, but I don't feel up to a confrontation. I nod. 'I've been in enough.' I say. Just the crusts left.

"What is your main weapon?" He asks. He's too serious to be just curious.

I sigh. 'Fire arms. AK-47 and a sidearm pistol.' I say and I steal his cup from him. I sniff it. Spearmint. I take a drink, thirsty as hell. I regret nothing. 'The knife is usually a last resort. Or you find yourself in close quarter combat.' I add.

Sans looks at me incredulously and Papyrus only narrows his eyes.

I finish his cup for him and set it on the table.

If San's eye sockets could get any wider, they'd crack. His jaw is a little slack too.

'Trying to catch flies?' I ask him as I stand up to get myself more pizza. I hear a smack and I spin around. They act like nothing ever happened. I raise an eyebrow but go back to my seat. I eat my pizza and Papyrus gets up to make some more tea. Sans has gone back to his normal scowl as Papyrus puts water in a kettle.

I hear the front door open and I jump up, spinning around again. I peek through the kitchen door. Its a large white dog standing upright and wearing armor. I back away slowly, knees bent slightly and legs shoulder width apart. Heavy footsteps come toward the kitchen and I hide against the section of wall behind the door. The skeletons look at me like I'm crazy and the door busts open, hitting me pretty hard.

The dog barks and growls menacingly at the skeletons.

Papyrus stands straight up and squares his shoulders as this dog "talks" to him, it's saliva dripping down his neck, teeth sharp and pointed. It has vicious red eyes and an attitude to match.

"Tell Undyne I'll get there when I get there." Papyrus says. The dog growls at him and walks out. When he walks out the front door, I relax a little.

'Friend of yours?' I ask.

"No more a friend of mine than he is of yours." Papyrus growls. "Stay in the house or I will be forced to chain you." He stalks out of the house. "Sans! Move your ass!" he calls from the door and slams it behind him. Sans sets his cup In the sink and quickly scuttles out behind him.

I sit down and finish my pizza in total silence. It's actually really calming. I put my plate in the sink and put the left overs in plastic containers, shoving them in the fridge.

When I'm done in there, I go into the living room to sit on the couch. All but one cushion is completely sunk in from use. Probably from Sans sleeping on it.

I go up and look in the bathroom for a toothbrush. I rummage through the drawers. Toothpaste, peroxide, and floss. No unopened toothbrushes. Great. I go into Papyrus's room and start rummaging through his dresser drawers for my knife and anything useful. The only thing I really find is really old and tattered Shakespeare books in languages I don't understand and black clothing.

I go through the desk and my knife is in the same place as before. Wow. Not very creative is he? I leave it for now and keep going. I find cigarettes and what looks like a jewelry box. It has a little lock on it, so I leave it alone to look at the cigarettes. MTT Brand Tobacco Stix. Not a brand I've heard of. I open the box and see at least six left in there with a red lighter snug up against them. I haven't had a cigarette since I was in the Marines.

I pull one out with the lighter and go towards the window to open it. I light the cigarette, and breathe in the toxic smoke. Still stings like it used to. I feel my anxiety drain from me. Though, I don't feel the head high I usually get from nicotine. It kind of tingles on my tongue intead. I breathe it out in the direction of the window.

It's damn cold outside, so I slide it so it's only open about an inch. I move the desk chair over to the window and relax for a while. And for a moment, I can forget the madness that is the Underground.


	15. Chapter 15: Humans Are Not Descendents

**Hello again! Here it is! Plz plz plz review**

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When I'm done with my cigarette, I put the butt out on the snowy window sill and dust it off onto the ground below. I close the window and stroll my way back into the bathroom. I could use a shower. I'm probably disgusting.

I take my clothes and my scarf off and turn on the water. I let my hair loose and step in, closing the curtain behind me. I find myself some soap. MTT Brand Body Wash. NOW WITH MOSTURIZERS!

Ok then.

I wash all the grime off my body and hair and rinse. My skin starts to tingle, but I guess it's not really meant for human skin. I look at this other bottle. MTT Brand Hair Conditioner. Lucky me. I put a little bit of it in my hair and comb out the tangles with my fingers. With just a little bit, my hair feels like silk.

I rinse my hair and turn off the water. I pull the curtain back and grab a towel from a nearby shelf. I dry myself off quickly and wrap it around myself. I hear the door creak open. I freeze as Papyrus steps in.

"You're cute with and without clothes." he says. He's holding a brush.

I step back and almost fall backwards into the tub. He steps forward and easily catches me around the waist. He has both arms around me now, holding me to his chest. I try to push away, but his arms are stronger than mine.

"Ah ah ah, be still, pet. Or I'll have to punish you." he says in this musical tone.

I really don't like the sound of that. Just who the hell does he think he is?

With one hand, he gently unravels my hair from the towel and lets my hair fall. Then he starts to brush my hair. Like I'm some doll. It's borderline creepy and Papyrus seems to be enjoying himself. He lets go to scoop up my clothes and I snatch the towel from him to wrap around me.

He chuckles. "You don't have to hide yourself from me, pet." he says.

'I am not your "pet"!' I say. I really wish I could growl at him.

"Then tell me your name already." he says, looming over me.

I narrow my eyes. 'I am called Frisk.' I say.

He smiles wickedly and scoops me up bridal style. If I could squeak, I would've. Instead, it sounded like a violin bow scraping across the strings.

He chuckles again, chest rumbling. I glare defiantly up at him. He carries me out of the bathroom and goes towards his room. I look at him warily. He opens the door and carries me inside. He flops me on the bed and pulls open my towel. I quickly cover my chest and hold my thighs together. God, my face felt like it was on fire.

"I didn't know humans had fur down here." he muses, touching the patch of hair on my crotch. I flinch away from him, sitting up and scooting away. He chuckles and crawls on the bed after me. He sits on his knees in front of me, lowering himself so that he was eye level with me. His face is very close to mine. He slowly lifts his arm so I could see it and traces his fingers down my spine. I shiver.

"Tell me, are humans descendants of skeletons?" he asks. A calming tactic.

And for some reason I answer him. 'Humans are flesh-wrapped skeletons. My bones are nowhere near as strong as yours.. And humans are kind of delicate.' I say.

His whole hand is rubbing up and down my back, now. His hand is surprisingly warm, but I really wish he would stop.

'Poke them in the wrong place and they bleed to death. We reproduce pretty fast too.. That's why we've survived as a species so long.'

"How do humans reproduce?" he asks. He's inching closer to sit down next to me. I might let him with how gentle he's being. But I still don't trust him. I won't let him get my guard down.

It's an embarrassing question, but I suppose I could woman up and explain. 'So a male human has a penis and testicles. The testicles hold the sperm and the penis delivers it. Female humans have a uterus (or womb), ovaries, and a vagina. The ovaries hold the eggs needed for a baby and they travel through a short tube to the womb where they wait to be fertilized. The male puts his penis in the female's vagina and delivers his sperm to her egg and if it takes, it is fertilized and the female is pregnant. Nine months later, a baby comes out. ' I say, the heat in my face not ebbing.

He's sitting really close to me, sitting with his legs crossed. "What happens if the egg is not fertilized?" he asks, his hand sliding to my waist.

'Lucifer's Waterfall.' I say. 'The uterine lining swells with blood and the female sheds them.'

"That sounds disgusting." he says, slowly pulling me into his side.

I nod. I don't know what he's planning, but I wish he'd stop. I am not Princess Leia in her goddamned golden bikini. I have no idea how Carrie Fisher did it.

'It comes with terrible cramps while the uterus tries to push it all out. Just a precursor to when one has children. They come out the same way.' I say. 'Oh, and the hormones make you have mood swings. We call it PMS: Premenstrual Cycle.'

"Have you had children?" he asks. Just when my face was starting to cool.

'No, I've never had a child. Haven't found the right guy yet.' I say. God, I can feel it in my ears too!

"What's that supposed to mean? 'The right guy'?" he asks.

I look up at his face. He looks genuinely curious. I sigh. 'In human culture, it's ideal to find someone who fits you. When two humans complement each other just right, they usually stay together for a really long time. I want to have children with someone who won't leave just because he has pet peeves about how I do certain things.' I say.

He huffs. "Good luck with that one." he says.

I glare up at him and push him away.

"Come on, I was kidding!" he says.

I narrow my eyes. 'What do you want from me?' I ask in quick sign.

He hesitates.

I cross my arms, waiting.

"...Because I... I want you to warm up to me." he says, looking away.

I poke him so he looks at me. 'Well, I'm sorry but I don't trust you.' I say, firmly.

"Why not?" he asks, eyebrows furrowing.

'I have a damn list. ONE: Your first impression was on the homicidal side. TWO: I don't respond very well to aggression or violence towards me. THREE: You triggered a PTSD episode. PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress syndrome. It's very common in human war veterans and varies from easy to not-so-easy to trigger. Mine is not easy to trigger. I just stopped having the nightmares. I am very afraid to sleep without whatever drug you gave me. FOUR: I do not like captivity. I do not like feeling trapped or forced into anything. And I do NOT EVER want to be restrained.' I say.

I'm seething at this point and Papyrus has a straight face. Not an ounce of emotion and I can't tell what's going on inside his head.

'I want you to stop touching me, now. My anxiety is through the roof.' I say, pushing him away and laying down into the fetal position. I tuck my head as close to my knees as I could get them. He gets up and off the bed. After a few seconds, the warmth he was giving me drains from my body and I start to shiver. It's cold in here. He leaves the room. I let myself relax. But not too much. I'm too high strung right now to sleep properly.

Images flick in front of my eyes. Of that night, of yesterday, and of the four guys I left behind. I hear the door click open and I sit up, startled. For a second I thought I was in my own bed. Then, I saw Papyrus at the door with a slice of pie in his hand and a blanket. I cover my chest with my arms again and lay back down. I want to go home.


	16. Chapter 16: 360 No-Scope

**I'm feeling generous today lol**

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"Get dressed. There's no point in lazing about." he says, throwing the blanket on me and putting the pie on the desk. Then he leaves the room again. That was a 180°.

I sigh and get up. I put my clothes on and sit at the desk, poking the pie with the fork. I take a bite and it tingles on my tongue. Odd... No poison I've ever read about tingled on the tongue. I swallow. One way to find out. It feels really warm in my stomach. But so far nothing bad.. Maybe he really is trying to be nice to me.

I slowly eat the pie and Papyrus comes back up the stairs. "I have a task for you." he says.

I look at him and flip him off. He comes over and picks me up by the arm and drags me downstairs. There's an actual AK-47 on the coffee table. It's rusted and covered in dirt. "Can you make this work?" he asks, setting me on the couch.

Just going to gloss over our earlier conversation? Whatever. Im so pissed that I feel an intense heat in my chest. I shove it down and shrug. 'It's pretty rusted, but I guess I could try and clean it.' I say.

"Good. What do you need?" he asks.

'I need a cylindrical steel brush and maybe some oil. And a rag.' I say, picking it up. It's absolutely disgusting. Like it's been sitting in water for a year.

He goes into the kitchen and comes back with something like WD-40 and a rag. "I'll be right back." he says and goes out the front door. I release the clip and look at the bullets. Half full and in almost perfect condition. I take the rag to the housing and scrape all the crap I can out with my fingernail. I spray on some of the oil/lubricant and rub it around in there. I snap the clip back in and actually start taking the thing apart. There is so much carbon caked on the inside, it rivals the amount of rust on the outside.

He comes back in a few minutes with a thin wire brush with a long handle. It almost looks like it won't fit. "Will this work? I couldn't find one that was cylindrical." he says.

I sigh and hold my hand out for it. He hands it to me and kneels across the table from me, watching intently. I scrape all the crap out of its various parts and apply the oil to keep it all the parts moving smoothly. Once the inside is clean I start scraping the crap off of the outside. Turns out the rust was thankfully a thin layer. I put the disgusting strap around my shoulder and stand up. 'Do you have a firing range around here?' I ask.

He nods. He must really want to see this thing in action. I make sure the safety's on before sliding it around to my back. I go upstairs to get my sweater and sweatpants. When I come back downstairs, I pull up my scarf so its covering my mouth and nose.

He holds his hand out for mine, Sans on his other side. I take it warily. I feel the sensation of falling and suddenly landing on cold dirt. I almost lost my balance, but Papyrus held onto my hand to keep me from falling. I nod my thanks and I look around. It looks like a medieval training ground. I go over to the archery targets and start building up a snow table. The kick on this thing is hard to control if you haven't done it in a while. I build it up to about the same height as the center of the target and rest against it. It doesn't have too much give.

Papyrus and Sans watch me patiently. I look down the sight and take a deep breath before turning the safety off and pulling the trigger. Three controlled bursts. Then the clip is empty. The sound is deafening. They all seem to have hit the target, riddling it with holes.

I look at them. 'It works. But now it's empty.' I say.

The skeletons look amazed. "Have human weapons really come so far?" Papyrus asks. He goes over to inspect the holes made in the tightly packed hay.

I nod. 'We kill each other all the time over resources. Kind of sad really.' I say. I see Sans pull out a cigarette and light it with a spot of glowing red fire on his pointer finger. 'Can I bum one?' I ask him.

He looks up at me, considering. He sighs and pulls his pack out of his pocket. He takes one out and hands it to me. I take it gently and he lights it for me. 'Thank you.' I say and take a drag. I look at him and his pupils turned into little hearts. I try my best not to smile at his dazed looking face. It's very flattering if that means what I think it means.

Papyrus comes over and narrows his eyes at Sans. "How did he get you to smile?" he asks.

I roll my eyes. 'By being himself. And letting an emotion besides anger pass over his face.' I say. 'And it's damn cute that he's got some adoration for me.' I cross my arms.

"Damn it, Sans!" he growls and the second he takes a step towards the other skeleton I step between them.

'Oh, don't you blame him for something you can't seem to do.' I say, blowing a puff of smoke in his face. 'If you really want me to 'warm up to you' as you say, then you can start by taking responsibility. He's your family, not your punching bag or your whipping boy. You have no idea how precious a family could be before you lose them.'

"What the hell do you know?" Papyrus growls, stepping closer to me, getting really close to my face.

I take another drag from the cigarette. 'You're right, I don't know. I never had a family.' I say slowly. 'But if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't treat them like this.' I grab Sans's shoulder and look down at him. 'Take us back, please?' I ask.

The short skeleton nods and the sensation of falling is back before we land on the carpet in the living room. "You didn't have to do that..." Sans says softly.

'Yes I did. He wants me to be friendly towards him, he's gotta, ya know, be friendly too.' I say, putting out my half finished cigarette out in the ashtray on the table. 'And not just to me.'

"... That's askin' a lot of him." Sans says softly.

I sigh silently. 'When is the last time he got laid?' I ask him.

Sans's eyes widen. "I... Uh.. I don't know... Maybe a month..?" he says. He rubs the back of his head nervously. "That's..uh.. the last time Undyne spent the night in his room... If you catch my drift."

I nod. 'The asshole is horny and he wants me to 'warm up to him' for sex. Lovely.' I say. 'Guess that answers that question.'

"What question?" Sans asks.

'Whether or not skeletons can have sex.' I say. 'I admit, I was curious for a while, but I guess if you can drink coffee or tea, then it all goes _somewhere._ ' I look down at the AK strapped over my shoulder. I flick the safety on to make myself feel better. 'I hope to god you guys don't have any more of these. They could really wreak some havoc.' I say. I sit down on the couch and start taking it apart to clean it again.

Sans sits down next to me. "You know what? Me too." he says. "'Cause if all humans are as cool as you, I wouldn't want anything to happen to them."

I look at him. 'What's that supposed to mean?' I ask.

He laughs nervously. "I uh... I didn't mean it the way it came out." he says quickly.

I narrow my eyes. 'You guys plan on using these on humans aren't you?' I ask.

He throws up his hands. "Not me! I promise!" he says "The king! He kinda went crazy when his kids died a long time ago."

I glare at him. 'Are there more of these?' I ask.

He hesitates. Then he nods ever so slightly.

I feel so goddamn stupid. I willingly gave him all the information he could ever need to harm innocent people.

I stand up slowly, pulling the trigger mechanism off the AK. I can feel myself shaking. I make myself go upstairs. I grab my backpack and my knife. I loosen it so it can go over my thigh for easy access. I go back downstairs, trying to keep a tight control on my anger. It's so hot in my chest that I'm starting to sweat.

'Show me the way out of here. I want to see the king.' I say.

Sans kind of turns gray. He holds his hands out. I take his hand and he takes me to a spot where it's slightly warmer. "This is the beginning of Waterfall. Follow the path and it should take you to where youre going. I'd fill up your water bottle before you get to Hotland, though." he says.

I nod, taking the first few steps forward.

"Wait.." Sans says. I stop and look over my shoulder at him. "I'll be at all the sentry stations you pass.. If you need anything, just... Tell me, ok?"

I nod again. 'Wait till he gets back before you tell him, yeah?' I say and make my way through Waterfall.


	17. Chapter 17:Crushed Skulls & Pointy Rocks

**Well here's the next one! I hope your body is ready.**

 **To The Soviet Union: Well, I figured that a weapon left neglected would need serious cleaning.**

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I trudge through the blue-black mud and after about ten feet, I see Sans again. He is leaning against his hand with his eyes closed. He peeks at me with one eye and closes it again. This weird, yellow, armless, dino-looking monster and this red dino-looking monster are hanging around, doing absolutely nothing. The yellow one glares at me, his height telling me that he may be just a kid.

I walk up to Sans's booth. There's a glowing diamond next to him and a glowing blue flower. I touch the diamond and all the pains and anxiety I had melts away. I even feel my sweater mend itself again.

'You weren't kidding.' I say. 'How did you get here before me?'

"I took a shortcut." he says gruffly. His attitude changed on me. Is it because there are other monsters around now?

'What's with the flower?' I ask. Maybe I should play his game.

"It repeats what you say to it after you touch it." he says, sounding annoyed. "Echo Flower."

I square my shoulders and act like I'm mad. 'Are there many of those?' I ask, making sure it doesn't reach my eyes.

He huffs. "Beat it! Your testing my patience." he growls, eye glowing menacingly. Basically: yeah, you'll find more.

I thank him and stalk off.

Well that was interesting. He's kind of terrifying. The next obstacle is a rushing river with rocks rolling downstream. I look down at my shoes. They're probably going to be wet by the time I get out of here anyway so I wade across the ankle high river, easily avoiding the rocks.

Ahead, I start to hear voices so I lower myself and step lightly, hiding in this odd patch of tall grass. I look towards the ceiling and I see a ledge where someone in full armor and Papyrus are talking.

"Yes, I taped her taking it apart, cleaning it, and putting it back together. I should be able to clean the rest of the weapons myself." Papyrus says.

I knew I shouldn't have told him all those things about me. I pat the trigger mechanism in my pocket with righteous indignation. When I find those damn things I'm going to do the exact same things to them. They won't know until somebody actually notices that they're missing.

"Good." the person in armor says. Sounds female. "When you're done with your rounds, get started on cleaning the rest of them. Show the others how to do it as well. Tomorrow we'll get started on training to use them. When you get home tonight, get her to teach you everything she knows about them."

That asshole. I'd kill him if I had it in me. But right now, I feel like I should beat his head in with a pointy rock.

"Yes, Captain." he says and melts into the shadows. Guards, eh? No wonder he wears armor all the time.

The armor woman looks around at the path below her. I sink lower and stay completely still. Then she disappears too. She is going to be a tough one to get around. I'm going to have to fight really hard if I run into her. No one gets to be Captain for nothing.

When I can't hear her footsteps anymore I stand up and continue down the path. Another diamond. I touch it, causing it to shatter, and I'm warm all over again, my shoes dry. I sigh and wade across another river of fast moving water. It was bound to happen.

They really don't call it Waterfall for nothing. There's lots of water everywhere. I wade across another river just to wade across it again to keep going. There are lots of unbloomed flowers in this area.

I walk into a room with sparkling lights in the ceiling. Its pretty but it has nothing on the real night sky. Suddenly, Flowey pops into existence in front of me. I almost step on him before jumping back.

"Hello, again Frisk." he says.

I nod and wave, a smile stretching across my face. I crouch down to hold one of his leaves.

"It's good to see you too." he says. "I'm surprised they let you go... I was sure they'd have killed you by now.. But it looks like they're discreetly squeezing information out of you."

I nod, letting my anger show through.

"You're not going to let them get away with it are you?" he asks.

I shake my head. I mouth the words Do you know where the guns are?

He shakes his head. "I can find out for you if you like... But I can't promise you when we'll meet again.." he says softly.

I nod and kneel down to the ground to hug the little flower. His leaf pats my shoulder. Then I let go and smile at him.

He's got a tear in his eye.

I bite my lip and wipe it away as it spills over.

"It's been a while since someone has hugged me.." he says softly. "Thank you for your kindness."

I nod and smile warmly. I kiss his little forehead and he blushes bright yellow. I giggle.

"I uh... Ahem. There are cameras everywhere, so please be careful. I'll mark all the blind spots on my investigation." he says, trying to compose himself.

I smile and nod.

"Until next time." he says and disappears into the ground.

I take a breath and trudge on. I touch all the echo flowers.

"I can't wait until the king kills another human! We are one step closer to having our revenge on the humans!"

"You know what I'm going to do once I get to the surface? I'm going to gut them like wild game!"

"I think that's a splendid idea."

"Ah, I can't wait to see the surface for myself."

I'm shaking. I can't let them do this. I can't let this hair-brained idiot of a king do that to my people. Sans says that it was the king's idea, so I'll force him to change his mind. I may be one person, but I will not let this happen. I don't want to leave them all down here, but if I have to, I will. I don't want to have to kill any of them either. This journey is really going to suck.


	18. Chapter 18: Punstoppable

The next bit of tunnel turns from mud to a wooden dock. I walk passed a series of signs I can't read and find myself in a pitch black room. I can't see a thing. I reach out with my foot and my hands and slowly try to make my way to the light at the other end. Suddenly the floor is moving. I stay perfectly still as it slowly brings me closer to the light. I sigh with relief when it stops. That was really nerve-wracking.

I step into the light and suddenly glowing spears pierce the deck below me. Shit. I book I across the path, narrowly avoiding them. I have a short time to react as the deck glows before a spear hits. I hear a loud cackling laughter below me as I run.

"Run while you can, human!" she shouts, laughing louder. Now, she's throwing five at a time. Shit!

This is bad. They know I'm not at Papyrus's house now. And now they're going to be hunting me. At the end of the deck there's a huge patch of tall grass. I dive into it to catch my breath, nevermind the mud soaking my clothes and my scarf. I hear heavy metallic thuds behind me on the deck and I sit completely still, hoping she doesn't see me.

She walks right next to where I'm laying and stops. She stays still too, listening. I do my best not to make a sound. Somewhere on the path ahead there's a loud thud. She takes off running towards it. She's fast for a knight in full armor. Once her footsteps start to fade, I sit up on my knees, letting out a shaky breath.

That was fucking close.

I keep going and I reach a diamond. I touch it and it dries me off of my sweat and takes all the moisture out of the mud. I feel like I could climb the mountain in just a day. I brush the dirt off, trudging forward once again. After a few feet, I see Sans standing next to a telescope. The telescope has a huge battery attached to it, making me suspicious of it. I wave at him.

He eyes my dirty appearance. "Been getting Frisky?" he asks, smirking and raising a brow.

I roll my eyes and push his shoulder. 'The knight woman was trying to kill me.' I say.

"Oh, that's Undyne. You know, the one that sent the dog to fetch the bones." he says, chuckling.

I face palm. Of course he'd make a pun out of that one. I shake my head. 'Yeah, she almost Frisk-kabobbed me.' I say.

He can barely contain himself. "It's too bad, you're barbe-cute." he says winking.

Oh, jeez. My face gets hot and I cover it with my scarf. 'Why are you so saucey?' I ask.

"Because every time I see you, my heart turns into an oh-pun flame." he says, wiggling his brows.

I can't stop myself from laughing. Damn he's good. "Well turn down the heat before you burn out.' I say.

"I can't help that you're smokin'!" he says chuckling.

Oh my god. I'm dying.

Then his pocket jingles. He looks at it and frowns. "Hold that thought, it's my grill master." he says and answers it. "Yes, Boss?" he says. He keeps his face blank but I see his shoulders start to sag. "I'm at the telescope, boss." he says. "Yes, sir." He hangs up. Then he looks up at me. "Where were we?" he asks, smirking.

'Papyrus wants you to distract me doesn't he?' I ask.

Sans nods. "And you didn't hear it from me, but the only reason you're alive is because he convinced Undyne that you're useful. He doesn't want you to have to die either. He's not strong enough to fight Undyne and win." he says.

I blink in surprise. 'So he wants me to be his little slave until the last possible minute?' I say, starting to get angry again. 'I know what they're planning. They want to use me for information on humans and the human weapons they have stockpiled somewhere.' I step away from Sans. 'I will have no part in it.' I say and start to walk off. I suddenly feel like I'm being pulled backwards and my chest feels hollow.

I turn around on the spot and see Papyrus standing not ten feet away.

No!

He starts pulling me towards him and I dig my heels in, resisting. It hurt something fierce, but I don't want to be trapped again. I don't want to help him hurt the people I just made friends out of. I just started to feel like I belonged. I won't let him ruin it, no matter how well he means. I'm slowly pulled closer to him. He's got a displeased expression on his face. His jaw clenched, teeth in a straight line, and his eyes narrowed.

"Sans, move on to your next post." he barks at Sans, taking his eyes off me for a second. I take the opportunity to draw my knife and throw it. It's my only weapon, but I'm willing to let it go if it means gaining my freedom.

It embeds itself in the small part of his shoulder that's exposed and he cries out. He lets go of me and I take off running as fast as my legs will carry me. I hop over the the pool separating the island from the entrance to the island with the exit and slip on the far ledge. My hands catch the ground on the other side as half of me is submerged in the stinging glowing water. I quickly pull myself up and keep running.

In the next room, a giant octopus tries to attack me; but I have no time for him. I dodge and weave through his suction cupped arms and keep running. I passed several things I probably should've stopped to look at, but I was too upset, too angry, and too scared to slow down. Eventually the tunnel opens up to a huge cave with a view of a castle. It must be the king's. I finally slow down, exhausted and completely out of breath. I fall to my knees, chest aching.

Flowey pops up in front of me. "Frisk, are you alright?" he asks, putting a leaf on my knee.

I nod to him, trying to get my breath back as I loosen my scarf from around my neck. I move my arms like I was running and I tap my knuckles to my head.

"Oh, running from the bone heads?" he says, biting his lip.

I nod, trying to slow my breaths down. I put my hands over my head. Much easier now. I close my eyes for a second.

"I found them..." he says softly.

My eyes snap open and I look at him. I motion for him to continue.

He bites his lip. "I overheard a guard in Hotland saying that he had to report to Dr. Alphys's lab for some new weapon training... If they're anywhere, they're there." he says softly.

I nod. There's no stopping now. I stand up and fast walk to the next tunnel. There's a huge ledge, but I can reach it. I grab hold of it and slowly pull myself up, pushing on the wall with my feet for leverage. I get myself over it and roll to my feet. I check my waterbottle to see if it still has water in it. It does but not nearly enough. I pour what's left of my Gatorade into it and look around. There's a tiny stream of water coming down off the wall. I refill my Gatorade bottle with it and fill the water bottle all the way up. When that's done, I put them in my bag and roll up my sweater sleeves. I see another diamond. I touch it.

I have to stop them. I won't let them have my soul. Not for their genocide.

The next tunnel is super dark and wooden deck again. I look up and on a ledge stands the full metal armored Undyne. I take off running and she follows, throwing her spears at me.

Another damn maze. So many damn twists and turns. Her spears leave cuts down my arms and my legs, slowing me down. I'm Determined to make it out alive. I push myself farther than the drill sergeants could ever push me. When I finally think I'm on the home stretch, its a damn dead end. I turn around, my fists up since I buried my knife in Papyrus's ribcage.

She laughs. "Hello, and goodbye, human." she says and her spear cuts through the dock. And I'm falling.


	19. Chapter 19: Suit Up! Its Asskicking Time

**My brain is really producing right now and I really want you guys to catch up with me, so here!**

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I wake up to water being splashed on my face. The air stinks. My whole body hurts. And there's a flower that talks, slapping me in the face with his leaf. I squeeze my eyes shut for a minute and open them again. Flowey looks relieved.

"I thought you were dead, Frisk." he says.

I shake my head and sit up slowly. He "sits" on my knee. I chuckle and shake my head again at the sight of him, roots and all, sitting on my knee like some sort of flower child. My whole body aches, I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I test my muscles, flexing and stretching each one to make sure nothing's broken. Just a lot of soreness and probably bruising on my entire backside. I sigh and try to stand up. My legs hurt really bad, but I can still walk. Flowey clings to my leg. I raise an eyebrow before I notice that I'm on a tiny island in a gigantic puddle. I turn slowly to look around. There's the source of the stink. It's a landfill of sorts. And it's gross.

The exit is at the other end of the room, so I begrudgingly step into the gross water and wade towards the exit. I peek at the piles of garbage and something silvery catches my attention. Its square and about the size of my fist. I gingerly pick it up. It's military rations... Freeze dried potatoes! I smile excitedly and look at Flowey, showing it to him. It's unopened and still tightly compacted into its aluminum/plastic wrappings. You have no idea how much you miss food like that when you're starving. Vitamins come to mama. I rip the thing open and knock it back, quickly filling my mouth with it. It's disgusting and tasteless, but food is food.

Flowey looks at me like I've grown an extra head. I just smile and trudge on, forgetting the pain in my body. I find a diamond and stop at it, chewing the freeze dried potatoes. I reach out and touch it, the warm sensation making me feel even better. I follow the path, oblivious to most of the things around me as I eat the potatoes. I almost trip on a dummy and it apologizes for being in my way. It disappears, leaving a stack of gold coins floating on a piece of plastic. I lean down and pick it up. I'm in too good a mood to be creeped out by talking dummies. I step out of the water and find another diamond. I touch it and my shoes dry out. The smell doesn't go away though.

I look around and see that there are five directions that I could go. I take a minute to decide which way to go and Flowey just sighs, hopping off my leg.

"Just go right, there's a store." he says.

I point at the other ways and furrow my eyebrows.

He sighs. He points to the far left "Back to the glowing pools." He points to the one next to it. "Undyne's house." The one in the middle. "Ghost Douche's house." The one second from the right. "Ghost Douche's snail farm." he says. He sounds almost irritated.

I frown and stuff the empty packet into my pocket. I take his advice and go right. In this tunnel, I see a boat to my right and a doorway to my left. The one on the left seems to be the store, so I walk inside. The store is filled with all kinds of crap. There's a donut with MTT written on it in what seems to be glitter, some crudely made round metal shields, a torn notebook and a pair of broken sunglasses. And that's only what's in the display case under the sleeping turtle cashier. I quietly poke my nose through the store, looking to see if I find anything interesting. I open a chest and find a old looking kevlar vest. I almost cry at the sight of it. I pick it up. It's heavy as kevlar's always been and underneath it is some human sporting gear. More specifically paintball gear. _Professional_ paintball gear. It's light and only made of plastic, nylon, and polyester, but it would protect most of me from cuts. And it's all black with tasteful red trim. Just my style.

I take off my sweatpants and sweater and fold them into my backpack along with my knife sheathe. I don't really have need of it right now. I slide on the tight, armored, long sleeve shirt and the armored pants. In the shirt there are sheets of plastic sewn into the pectoral area, all the way around my abs and lower back, and two sheets to cover my shoulder blades. On the sleeves, there is padding on the outside of my upper arm and lower arm. On the pants, there are sheets covering the front and back of my thigh and sheets over my shin and calf. I smile and put on the elbow pads, knee pads, shoulder pads and protective full face mask. It's a little small so I have to adjust it. It fells nice to wear some protection. After putting that all on, I stretch in it, making sure it lets me move freely. It's nice and flexible for me. And lastly, I adjust my scarf so its just right.

I peek in the chest again to see if there are any more goodies in there an I find a paintball gun with a full clip of red paint. Sweet. This is mine now. I pull the strap over my shoulder and pick up my backpack. I put a handful of gold coins on the counter in front of the sleeping turtle before I silently leave the store.

Surprisingly, Flowey is waiting for me outside the store. He looks at me with wide eyes. I laugh and continue down the path.

"Frisk, what it that stuff? Why do you have a gun?" he asks, kind of freaking out.

I take off a strap of my backpack. I stop to pull out my notebook and pen and write on it: Paintball gear, nonlethal. I show him and he seems to calm down.

"Was it really in Gerson's store?" he asks.

I nod. Found it in a chest in a back corner. I say.

"Well, at least you have some protection now." he says.

I nod and keep going. He sinks in and pops up farther down the path to "walk" with me. We walk passed a couple signs I still can't read and a room full with glowing echo flowers. Then we get to another room that's pitch black. I put the notebook away for this one.

The mushrooms illuminate the path. But for a limited time. I follow each path—some of them were dead ends—trying to get passed this dumb room. And Flowey seems to be no help to me. It takes way longer than my wits can handle and I'm in a terrible mood by the end. I officially hate puzzles. When I finally reach the end of that nightmare, I see two things in front of me. To the left is a path leading through an entire field of echo flowers and in front of me there's a single echo flower next to a tall patch of grass. I'd rather take my chances with the field of flowers.

I touch all of the ones closest to me. They each say something about revenge against the human race. About how we should all suffer for the misdeeds of our ancestors. The path turns right and I touch a diamond I pass before I step onto a bridge. I hear Flowey slide into the ground, but I don't see him come up on the other side.

When I get to about the middle, the yellow dinosaur-looking monster steps out of the shadows. He has glowing orange arms now, and in his hands is what looks like a long dagger.

He growls. "I'll kill you human." he says, his eyes wide and crazed. "Your soul will make me more powerful. Even more powerful than the king. I'll kill him too. Then I'll slaughter your people for trapping me down here. Every. Single. One." He starts laughing and it sounds like this poor kid has gone off the deep end.

I raise my weapon and take aim. I shoot him in the eyes, blinding him. I take a few steps and knock him over with my foot. In his confusion, his arms disappear and he drops his knife. I kick the knife away and I leave him there. There's no reason to really hurt him.


	20. Chapter 20: I Just Need One

**I'm on a role. Here's chapter 20 (2,311 words people!)**

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Sitting next to the next bridge is a goomba-looking frog monster grumbling about how kids these days have no respect for their elders. I nod to him and keep walking. He seems to have stopped mumbling.

After the short bridge, I step up to this foreboding cave entrance. The edges were all stalagmite and stalactite, making it look like an open mouth. Its kind of terrifying. Undyne is standing on the top ledge, looking down at me.

"So you survived the fall? I'm surprised." she says. She takes off her helmet, revealing a fish head with an eye patch, bright red hair, and jagged, sharp teeth. Her scaly lips are pulled up into a creepy smile. "Nice armor, by the way. I'm glad you're taking our fight seriously." she says. She jumps down, landing in the super hero pose five feet in front of me. When she straightens up, she looks me dead in the eye. "Time to fight for real human." she says, conjuring a cyan colored spear to her hand. Green sparks fly from behind the eye patch.

I raise my weapon as she bends her knees. I aim and shoot her between the eyes. The red paint splatters into her eye and I rush at her, lowering my shoulder and ramming it into her chest. It knocks her flat on her back. I step over her and take off running before she can collect herself. I don't get too much of a head start as she rolls to her stomach and chases after me.

"That was a dirty trick! Come back here and fight me, human!" she growls from behind me.

Suddenly, green glass appears in front of me. I stop and look behind me. Her left hand is glowing green with her magic. Her right throws a multitude of spears at me. I defect them with my forearm protection, the spears cutting into it dangerously. I dodge the best I can in this box I'm trapped in. Her hand stops glowing and I shoot her in the shoulder, hitting the spot between the arm piece and the shoulder pad. She cries out in pain and I take off running again. It's starting to warm up. Like, really warm up.

The green glass appears again and I spin around. Undyne is really pissed now. Red paint is splattered on her face and on her shiny armor. This time, she lunges at me with a spear, screaming a war cry. She tackles me to the ground and is putting all her weight into the spear pointed at my neck.

I grab the shaft and try and hold it off of me. Her sweat drips onto my mask. Ew... She smells like sardines. I take one arm away for a second to elbow her in the face. Once. Twice. And on the third strike, I roll us and pin her. I put my knees on both of her arms and put the barrel of my gun to her bad eye. Her eyes widen and she stares at the gun to her eye. I take off the mask and I smack her face to force her to look at me. I mouth Do you yield?

She narrows her eye at me. "Kill me human and get it over with." she says breathlessly. I sigh and jam the butt of my gun into her forehead, knocking her unconscious. Her spear and the glass disappear. I let out a relieved breath and my shoulders slump with exhaustion. Flowey pops up next to me as I wipe the sweat off of my brow.

"Wow.. You beat her... And you didn't kill her." he says softly.

I nod, trying to catch my breath. I stand up slowly and get off of her. I get out the Gatorade bottle full of water and take a big drink, shaking my scarf to fan my neck. Damn. That everywhere ache is back. Time to see all about Hotland. Judging from this change in temperature, it's called that for a reason. I step onto this red clay covered platform. There's lava everywhere down below. So that's why it's called Hotland. To my left is a sleeping Sans. I'm hungry again. I rest my mask on the top of my head and knock on his table top. He wakes with a start and his eye sockets widen when he gets a good look at me.

'You said I could ask you for anything right?' I say before he has a chance to drop his jaw. 'Do you have any food back there?'

His jaw is a little slack when he says. "Damn. What the hell is that get-up and where did you get it." he looks at my weapon. "And what the hell is that?" He totally ignores my request for food.

'I'll tell you after you feed me.' I say. He's probably noticed that the gun I'm carrying is different from the AK-47.

He nods and reaches under his table and pulls out a hot dog in a bun. He holds it out to me. "Just one thing though, before you eat it." he says. "Food made by monsters has magic in it. It heals any injuries you have to a certain degree."

I nod slowly. Maybe it was magic that made my tongue tingle with that cigarette? I take it from him.

'Got any mustard?' I ask.

His pupils turn into hearts and he pulls a bottle out of his jacket pocket. How he's wearing his jacket in this heat is beyond me. He squirts some on and I eat the hot dog. The tingling is back and the aches are all gone. I smile, leaning against his stand.

'I'll be frank with you. My outfit is normally worn for a game called paintball.' I say, even though he's probably going to end up having to tell Papyrus. 'It's impact resistant, so I put it on so I can take hits better. And paintball is a game where humans shoot each other with colorful paint pellets, splattering them like art projects. The paintballs are nonlethal but they hurt like a son of a bitch when they hit bare skin. I found them in this turtle's store so I put money on the counter and took them.'

He smiles a little at my pun and watches intently to what I have to say.

'It was light, flexible, and takes the brunt of most hits I receive. I couldn't resist. I had to have them.' I says. 'And the gun is good for blinding anyone trying to fight me. I used it on Undyne and it gave me a headstart down the tunnel.'

He nods. "That's actually a good strategy." he says.

'I had to use it on some kid too. He had a knife.' I say.

"Yeah, that was bound to happen." he says gruffly.

I sigh. 'Can I have another hot dog?' I ask, rubbing my belly.

He smiles a little and gets me another, squirting mustard on this one too.

I eat and we sit together in peaceful silence. 'It's too bad everyone and their brother is trying to kill me. I think that you guys would've loved the surface.' I say slowly. 'They have the most violent video games imaginable. And there's a lot of different kinds of food. And there's this dark part of the internet that you guys would probably like. Well the sick-minded few of you.'

Sans nods. "Is it anything like Mettaton television?" he asks.

'I couldn't tell you.' I say 'I've never seen Mettaton television.'

He chuckles. "You're better off not having seen it." he says, laying his head on his folded arms. Soon I hear him snoring.

'Well if thays the case, he could probably end up running the dark web.' I say thoughtfully.

I look at him, impossible bags under his eye sockets. He doesn't sleep very well, does he..? I sigh and leave him be. I cross a bridge towards a cooler and I refill my bottle. Up ahead is a building labeled "LAB" while to the left is a knight in black armor and to the right is a dark tunnel. I sigh and walk forward towards the lab. The knight leaves me be, surprisingly, and I exit the sweltering lava cave, entering an air conditioned Laboratory. On the left is a loft I can't see into, a desk, a gigantic monitor and a door that has a little toilet sticker on it. Except that there's a button next to it. Papyrus is waiting for me, leaning against a counter across the room from a yellow lizard lady in a lab coat sitting at the monitor.

The lizard woman walks up to me. She looks angry but calm. "First off, thank you for not killing my girlfriend." she says.

I nod, confused.

"Second off, you have got us monsters all wrong." she says. She points to Papyrus. "He will tell us the rest."

I look at the relaxed-looking skeleton. He motions for me to come over to him as he straightens up.

I sigh and walk over to him. He puts a hand on my shoulder. Ok, now I'm a little nervous. He's got a hand on me and not enough room to maneuver my gun to his face in case he tries something.

"You got us wrong. We don't really want to kill you. And we hate the kill or be killed law." he says very seriously.

'It's a law?' I ask, raising an eyebrow.

He nods. "King made it to keep us on our toes. To make sure we kill humans that cross our path. You need to understand something: a single human child could dust every single one of us. Asgore likes to think he made it for our protection." he says. "We don't want this any more than you do. But you are the only one strong enough to fight him."

This all smells fishy. And it has nothing to do with the Undyne sweat. 'How do I know that this isn't a load of bullshit?' I ask, narrowing my eyes. I take a step back, out of his grip. 'I know what you're planning. I was listening to you and Undyne. I will not go through with it.' I back up towards the "bathroom".

"Frisk, come to your senses! Don't be unreasonable." Papyrus growls. "Why can't you just fucking trust me?"

'You never gave me a reason to trust you.' I say and I hit the button. Papyrus lunges at me and I hop backwards out of his reach, punching the "close-door" button. It quickly slides closed and I hit the down button. There's no way I'm going to trust him. I'd sooner cut off my own leg. The elevator dings and the door opens. It's dark and dusty in the room beyond. I take a coin out of my pocket and wedge it in the door slot right in front of the censor.

I take a few steps in and look around. An abandoned lab. I walk down the hallways, finding broken glass, empty rooms and rooms I can't get into. In one room, there are what look like patient beds and lab tables. There's dust everywhere. I find a room with a tv, several vhs tapes, and a vcr. Several of the tapes are labeled "Determination Test" each with their own number. I put one in. The lizard lady is standing in front of the camera.

"Determination Test number one. Test subject is male, 300 years old, and in weakened state. He had fallen down just yesterday."

The camera turns to show a dog monster strapped to one of the patient beds I've seen. His eyes are closed and he appears to be in some kind of pain. The lizard lady picks up a syringe full of red glowing liquid.

"Administering Determination." she says and pokes the dog in the inside of his elbow, injecting the liquid.

Then she steps back, watching him.

The dog opens his eyes, barking happily. He sits up a little and smiles with his tongue hanging out. Then he starts to...melt. He howls and his body starts to turn into a white goo.

The lizard lady sighs. "Test failed. Results inconclusive." She picks up a clipboard and writes something down.

I cover my mouth trying not to be sick. It was crying out for help, it's yelps unintelligible gurgles. It's skull lifted slightly, it's jaw still moving, before it too turned into sludge. Tears flow down my cheek. This is disgusting.. Even though most of the monsters I've come into contact with has tried to kill me, they never deserved this...

I pull the tape out and put in the next one. I wipe my eyes with the end of my scarf and sit through the next one. Goo. The next one. Goo. The next one, a pile of green glittering dust. A gray-white being arises, it's body dripping but is extremely violent. In the last tape, it's just the lizard lady.

"It seems that pure determination in monsters turns them into a liquid version of themselves. I've run out of test subjects, for now. I will continue this line of experimentation on dust with plant life forms. The first life I've brought back has no soul. But it is undoubtedly him. The thing escaped before I could run some more tests. This is a huge breakthrough." she says and she looks excited. And the tape ends.

Maybe she's talking about Flowey?


	21. Chapter 21: Taking One For the Team

**All things come in threes.**

* * *

I shake my head and take a deep breath, gathering myself. I have to find those weapons.

I step out of the room with the tapes. To my right is a big skull-looking thing and to my left is the hallway I came from. The room next to the tape room locked. Maybe this is it. I back up a bit from the door and kick at it near the doorknob. I hear cracking so I do it again. A little give. One more time and it whacks the wall behind it. I quickly raise my weapon and scope the room as I walk in. The only thing in front of me is a curtain. I walk up to it and pull back the curtain. I finally found those weapons. They were haphazardly tossed into a wooden crate. I start taking them apart just enough to take off the triggers. Then I put them back together like I wasn't even there.

One hundred in all. Even if there was more somewhere, a huge chunk of them are inoperable now. I carry the triggers with me back the way I came. I don't know what I'm going to do with these, but I'll find a way to destroy them. Dropping them in the lava pit sounds preferable. I make my way back to the room with the comfy looking beds and there's a diamond to my left. I touch it and all my stress melts away. All horror and the sorrow is turned into the fuel that keeps me going.

I make my way back to the elevator. The coin is still in the door but I hear what sounds like a plasma cutter from above. I remove the coin and hide around the corner. The elevator dings and the door closes. After about five minutes, Papyrus, Undyne and the dog monster from the other day walk into the lab.

Shit, they brought someone with a nose.

I press myself against the wall, staying absolutely still, and holding my breath as I wait for them to spread out to look for me. Undyne walks right passed me. I am lucky I'm on her bad side, or she probably would've seen me. I notice that she hasn't wiped off the paint. I get into the elevator when they disappear from sight. I push the up button, making the elevator ding before the door slides shut. I hear barking down the hallway.

I don't know what I was expecting when I got up to the lab, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting a room full of guards. They all look at me and my arm full of triggers. I don't think they were expecting me either. Large paws grab my arms and jerk me out of the elevator, forcing me to drop the pieces of metal in my hands. One of the big ones hugs me from behind, lifting me off the ground and pinning me to his chest. I faintly smell dog breath. I kick out, trying to get free, but this guy has some strong arms. The elevator dings again. Looks like they're calling the elevator. Great.

I huff and glower at the soldiers around me. This is humiliating. The lizard lady pushes her way through the herd of guards and stops in front of me. "I never got the chance to introduce myself." she says. "I'm Dr. Alphys. I make pretty much everything in the Underground."

Well she isn't shy. I nod to her, acknowledging her greeting, though I am unable to return it.

"I created Mettaton. That whelp helps fund all the research I do. And if ratings aren't up, nobody gets their cigarettes." she says.

I tilt my head. I haven't ever been sitting down long enough to watch tv.

"Here, let me give you a sample." she says. "METTATON! GET IN HERE!" Her yelling almost ruptures my eardrums. A unipedal box-shaped robot wheels himself into the room.

"Yes, Dr. Alphys?" he says in a robotic monotone. His four arms were were tube-shaped with little four-fingered gloves her hands. There are buttons and several dials on his front, lighting up like a Christmas tree when he talks.

"Kill that one." she says, pointing to a small guard.

All the guards freeze and step away from the guard fated to die in front of me.

"As you command, Dr. Alphys." Mettaton says, wheeling over. His hands sink into two of his arms and cannons slide out in their place. He points both at the guard. "Prepare to die." he says and the ends of the cannons start to glow.

I don't think so. I bite the arm of the guard holding me. He howls loudly and drops me. I lunge forward towards the guard and knock him out of the way, taking the brunt of the cannon fire to my stomach.

God that hurt. I can't even breathe. A cold breeze blows where I've never felt it before. This equipment was not meant for cannon fire. I look down at my stomach. Wow. That's a lot of blood. Is thst a hole in me? What happened to the end ofy scarf? I find myself briefly wondering if it goes clean through.

I hear the elevator ding and I see Papyrus in front of me. My ears start ringing and everything starts to become blurry. Papyrus's face is really close to mine. Why was in my bubble? I could do without this egotistical creep in my face. I glare at him. I really don't know how to describe the look on his face. It's really just odd. My hands refuse to respond when I want to tell him to get away from me, so I try to push him away.

My midriff starts to burn. So this is hell. It burns. So hot, I can't even scream. I feel the breath in my throat, but I can't seem to make any noise. Not even the rasps that usually come out of my mouth. I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my teeth. Bony hands are on the sides of my face. I try and shake them off but the pain is taking up all the feeling in my body.

* * *

I smell pizza.. And apple pie. My stomach is sore and I feel sick.. I roll onto my side, holding my stomach. My abdomen spasms. I cough and shake as I rub my stomach. I look down between dry heaves. I'm in a big black shirt that I know is not mine. I lift it up slowly, not sure if I really want to know what it looks like. Seems the only other thing I'm wearing is my undies.

A big, slightly indented red scar in the shape of a circle. I put my hand on it. It.. feels stiff. When the spasms stop, I lie on my back and stretch. Very stiff. And on my back too. I look at my stomach again and notice that I've lost a lot of weight. How the hell am I supposed to get home like this?

I sit up slowly and my stomach churns. Well.. I swing my legs to the floor and look around. Looks like I'm back in the place where it always snows. Great. My backpack is nowhere to be seen, same for my scarf. Well.. My bag is probably done for.. If that science fiction level cannon went through me, then it's safe to say that my backpack fared no better. I'm going to miss that thing. That suit I was wearing has to be toast too. But my scarf is nowhere to be seen. I stand up slowly and my knees almost give out on me. I grab the bed frame and pull myself up. I am weaker than I expected. I wobble as silently as possible towards the door. I don't want them seeing me like this. I really am not about to be vulnerable. Even if he saved my life. If he can heal my hand with a "kiss" then I guess this is possible. Its so hard to wrap my head around.

I get to the door and open it slowly. The tv is on, the killer robot saying shouting ridiculous lines about being a star. I lean towards the railing. The two skeletons are on the couch watching the tv. Good, they're distracted. I inch towards the bathroom, hanging on to the wall. It's the only place where I can lock the door and collect myself.

I get there and open the door. Someone's in the shower. Whatever. I let myself in and close the door gently behind me and lock it. I close the toilet lid and sit down on it. I cross my arms across my knees and rest my forehead on them.

The steam is soothing. I sigh and relax a little. The shower turns off and the curtain opens. I don't look up. I definitely don't want to see any monster naked. One is enough. The monster in the shower stays silent, but I hear their foot step out onto the bath mat and I hear a towel being removed from the drying rack. I hear the slap of hair against something a little harder than skin. Must be Undyne then. She steps closer to me and grabs my shirt and pulls it up. It startles me and I sit up slightly, elbows up defensively. She's looking at my back.

"Nice scar, human." she says. Her eye seems alright from the last time I've seen her. She's got a grin on her face. For some reason.

I nod and pull my shirt back down.

"What are you doing in here?" she asks, starting to put on some clothes.

I shrug, not really knowing how to talk to her.

"That's right, you can't talk." she says, yanking on a pair of jeans. So she owns normal clothes. "Just draw on the mirror."

I give her a look and draw a safe on it. Her confused look is almost worth it. She did say draw. Now we're going to play Pictionary. If only it wasn't so damn boring.

"A safe?" she asks.

I nod. And then it clicks with her.

"Ohhhhhh. You feel safe in here." she says.

I draw a lock.

"'Cause the door locks." she says.

I nod again. Testing her intelligence here. I'm not sure whether I'm unimpressed.

"Did you know that Papyrus is sweet on you?" she says.

I shrug. I guess? I draw a question mark, then a bandaid and a pair of eyes. Since he saved my life, it's not hard to tell.

"You're confused... But he healed you... so you see it?" she asks.

I nod and shrug again.

"So how do you feel about him?" she asks. Her hand is on her hip, looking relaxed but I could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

I write out He lied to me. And I draw a book with a gun on one page and the general shape of a human.

"Hey, don't blame him, the king wanted this. If the king says "Jump", we say "How high?". Just what we had to do." she says, straightening her shoulders.

I look at her, meeting her gaze. Hearing that doesn't change my feelings. I underline my only words on the mirror but put a question mark over the bandaid. The steam is starting to dissipate, cutting our conversation short. I bring a knee up to my chest to rest my chin on as she slides a shirt on. She takes the towel to her hair one more time before she starts to brush through it. My hair could probably use some brushing too, but I could care less right now.

"I see you got some stuff to deal with." she says, setting the brush on the counter next to me and goes to the door. "Do _not_ make him wait." She leaves the bathroom, locking the door behind her.


	22. Chapter 22: Resting B-tch Face

**Please review! I would like your feedback! ReaperOfOaths, your reviews give me hope!**

* * *

I don't know how I feel. I just want to go home. Back to the place where I finally felt like I belonged. I kind of wish someone was here with me. I'm so alone in here. I'm alone in this world. A world full of monsters that would terrify any normal human being.

I.. I want to go home.. and leave all this behind.

But I can't leave them here to rot... I wouldn't want anyone to do that to me..

I don't want them to kill humans...

The ones I've met don't seem to want to.. But I don't know if I want to take that chance. Maybe that's what they were trying to explain to me before I ran to look for those weapons. They sure were doing a terrible job, though.

I almost died for that poor bastard. This world will chew you up and shit you out. I touch my stomach. It still feels really hot. My stomach churns with want for food. Fabulous. Looks like that's my excuse for actually going downstairs. I stand up slowly, my limbs still weak. I can walk a little easier now but my knees could still give out on me. I walk to the door, unlocking it and opening it. Papyrus is climbing the stairs. I watch him with a blank face as he approaches me. He's got an angry look on his face like always. He's got one of those "resting bitch face"s.

Now's as good as any time. 'Thank you for saving my life.' There. That wasn't so hard.

He nods as he looks me over. "You need to eat." he says.

'Took the words right out of my mouth.' I say. I see a little twitch of a smile before he growls with annoyance.

"No puns, Frisk." he says and takes my hand, pulling me towards the stairs "I can't stand them."

As soon as I step down the first step, my knee decides to buckle. I have no time to grab the railing and I fall into Papyrus, sending us both down the stairs, me riding him like a sled. Hitting the floor at the bottom, though, did not feel nice. I roll off of him, rubbing my head. He sighs and gets up, pulling me with him. 'Sorry.' is all I say. He shakes his head and pulls me into the kitchen past the other skeleton and the fish woman. They oggle us with veiled expressions. Not surprised.

He forces me down onto a chair and he rummages through the refrigerator. He's not wearing his usual armor. He's wearing a red shirt and a pair of black jeans. He doesn't look half bad, I guess. Jeans suit him better than whatever kind of pants he was wearing with his armor. In front of me is a steaming cup of tea. I take a sip. It has sugar in it this time. It tingles on my tongue. All the food here seems too. I wonder if its a drug they all take to have the powers they do. It's whatever though. It makes me feel stronger and that's all I really feel like knowing.

He puts a plate of something in the microwave as my stomach starts to ease. I relax into my chair, sinking down a little bit as I hold the tea close to my face. It smells wonderful, and I don't feel so on-edge. I sip my tea and get a hilarious idea. I set the cup on the table and start popping my knuckles. He tenses up and turns to look at me. I pop the knuckles on my other hand trying not to look at him. He's cringing painfully. I push my chin up and to the right to pop my neck. If he had skin he would've jumped right out of it.

He grabs my hand faster than I can see. "Stop that!" he says, looking kind of green.

I shrug and hide a smile behind the cup of tea.

"What in the name of all hell was that?" he ask, letting go.

I shrug. 'There's fluid bubbles around all my joints. Stretching them a little causes gasses to dedissolved and stretching them farther lowers the pressure and pops them, making the noise.' I say, sipping my tea. There I go again, telling him shit about the human race.

"Odd. I've never seen anyone do that." he says.

'Human habit, I guess.' I say. The tea is gone now and the microwave goes off. He sets a plate of the pizza I made in front of me. I eat the pizza quicker than I probably should have but I was hungrier than I thought. After that he made me a plate of spaghetti. That stuff was spicy. It burned all the way down, but I don't care. I'm kind of under weight.

Then I start to feel odd. My skin feels hot and everything that touches me seems to be sexually stimulating. I look up at Papyrus, narrowing my eyes. 'What did you do to me?' I ask, my hands responding slowly. This is not good.

"They're supposed to relax you so you can sleep." he says with a straight face. It's really hard to tell right now if he's lying or not.

I try to get up but my arms and legs won't lift me. 'A little too relaxed if you ask me.' I say. I really hope he doesn't see my nipples poking at the shirt. That's embarrassing as hell. Then suddenly he grabs me under my arms and lifts me to my feet. My legs can't hold me, making me fall forward into him. He catches me and picks me up bridal style.

"Your skin is hot. Do you have a fever?" he asks. He's the one that burns.

I shrug and roll into him. This is bad. My body has a mind of its own right now. I really want out of his arms but my hands cling to his shirt.

"Better take you upstairs." he says. When we pass by the couch, the two that were there before are gone.

Oh, he's conniving. Slippery like a snake.

He opens the door to his bedroom, taking me inside. He closes the door behind him with his foot. As he steps closer to the bed, he "trips" over something on the floor landing on top of me on the mattress. It seems I'm in a compromising position. His pelvis is pressed to mine and his legs prevent mine from closing. I feel the heat on my face.

He lowers his head to my neck."Now Frisk, are you going to tell me what you like or am I going to have to find out for myself?" he says in my ear, voice low and sultry. I can't help but shiver.

Dear lord, I feel my body heat up more than I thought possible. It almost does feel like I got a fever. I bite my lip. I really am not ready for this, but my body is craving something I haven't given it since my high school graduation day. Plus whatever he gave me is not helping. And the skeleton on top of me happens to be an eligible bachelor.

He keeps breathing on my neck, making the decision harder. It's official. My brain is fried.

I take his hand between my legs and show him _exactly_ what I like. That lecherous grin tells me he knows he's won. His other hand finds its way under my shirt to my breast squeezing gently and pinching my nipple as he breathes in my ear. Why does this feel so _good_?

His hands stop and he looks me in the eye as a glowing red tongue slides out of his parted teeth to lick his slick fingers.

Oh... God.. Damn...

He sits up to take off his shirt to discard it on the floor. He unbuttons his jeans, pulling out something phallic that glows red just like his tongue. My eyes are saucers and my heart starts to race. He hooks a finger under the elastic band of my undies, pulling them down. If there was a time to say no, now would be the time to do it... But I can't bring myself to.. and I can't take my eyes off of it. He lifts my hips, bringing himself closer. He was just touching everything sensitive with it when he lifts my chin to make me look at him. He presses his teeth to my lips.

It's... a sweet kiss. I feel it in my chest. Why does he have to throw my emotions around like this? My arms slide over his shoulders and around his neck, pulling him slightly closer. He presses in, all the way to the hilt. I break away to throw my head back, a breath rushing out of me. I arch my body towards him as he slides his arms around me. He pulls my scarf off of my neck, licking the scar as he thrusts into me. I can't think anymore. I can only cling to him as he gives my body what it needs. In this heat of mine, I just barely notice that my neck is warmer than the rest of me. When it stops, my throat vibrates again, but so quietly I can barely hear myself.

He groans and picks up the pace. He's feverish now, griping my hips to hold me still. I can see the horizon as he pushes me towards it. He tilts my hips ever so slightly and I feel it coming faster. I drag my nails across his shoulder blades, moaning as loud as I possibly can. I come hard, my body spasming with the pleasure.

"Ooh.. I like that. I'll have to make you do that again." he purrs, not stopping. In fact he thrusts harder and faster. He doesn't move my hips a single centimeter and he sends me over the edge again, my body spasming. A few more thrusts and I feel a hot and wet liquid slowly slide out of me. He presses his teeth to my stomach, nipping my skin gently.

I start to cry. It's just so overwhelming. I can make noise again.

When he feels me start to shake, he looks up at me worriedly. He holds my face gently between his hands. "What's wrong?" he asks softly.

I pull him closer, hugging him with all my might. "Thank you." I say as loud as I can in the hole that had to be his ear.

He relaxes. "You're welcome, Frisk." he says, a smile in his voice.

I cry as he holds me, letting out all my pent up emotion. He rubs my back gently.

I don't know how I feel about him... But I definitely don't hate him. I'm still mad, but I don't hate him.


	23. Chapter 23: No, He Should'nt

He makes sure the shirt is covering me as he picks me up. The heat in my skin is starting to fade, signaling that whatever he drugged me with is finally being filtered out of my system. He carries me out of the room and towards the bathroom. I point to the toilet before he can get to the shower. He lifts the lid with a toe and sets me on it.

I rest my hands over my stomach as I relieve myself, rejuvenated and tired at the same time. Papyrus steps over to the shower and starts to fill up the tub. He gets out of his pants which are covered in a slightly glowing liquid. What am I a school girl? Heat's rising to my face again. I really have no idea why I'm so embarrassed.

I flush and he picks me up again. He pulls the shirt off of me and gets in the tub, settling me in his lap. Honestly, this kind of thing is rushing it a bit. But I'm too tired to fight it. He leans forward and turns off the water.

Now what? I hold my chest, covering it as best I can. He pulls my shoulders back, pulling me into his chest and wrapping his arms around me. Apparently, I'm a teddy bear. He has a cup and he fills it with water before dumping it on my head. I sputter a little as it threatens to get in my mouth. He does it again and again until my hair is thoroughly wet. The shampoo bottle starts to glow and its floats down towards my head. It opens and tips over onto my hair before floating back. Unexpectedly, Papyrus starts massaging the good-smelling basic fluid into my scalp.

Well, this whole mess started with a case of the 'fuck-its'. Might as well keep rolling with it. I let him wash my hair. Rinsing it didn't go quite so smoothly and I was sitting up, trying to rub the soap from my eyes. I swipe the cup from him and rinse out my eyes with water from the faucet. Sting of soap is gone but I prefer the discomfort of water in my eyes. I rinse the rest of my hair out myself. I drop the cup in the water, rubbing my eyes.

"Soap doesn't go in your eyes does it?" he asks.

'Human eyeballs are kind of sensitive against anything more basic or acidic than water.' I sign over my head so he can see. 'Only a certain kind of saline can go into a human's eye without harming it.'

"Does it lead to loss of vision?" Papyrus asks. Full of fucking questions today.

'Yes.' I say. I feel something cold and thick drip onto my back. The bodywash. He massages it into my back with a pair of what feel like washclothes. I'm not gonna lie, it felt really nice. When he get up and over my shoulder, I take one from him and start washing my feet and legs. There are certain parts of me I won't let him wash. When I start getting independent, he stops touching me and it sounds like he's washing himself. I am now all covered in suds and there's a knock on the door. The curtain closes suddenly. "Come in." Papyrus calls towards the door.

The door opens. "Sorry Paps, gotta piss." San's voice says. A pause while he lifts the seat on the toilet. "Got Frisk in there with you or something?"

"Yes, what of it?" Papyrus says.

"Lucky." Sans mutters. "She's turned down every one of my advances."

The fuck, Sans. Lucky?

"Well maybe she likes the intimidating type." he says sneering. I turn to face him, eyes narrowed. Fuel to the already towering flame. I'm right fucking here! I punch him hard in the nose, knocking his head back into the shower tile with a loud CLUNK. Sans snickers and flushes the toilet, putting the seat back down.

"You probably shouldn't piss her off too much." Sans says as I start to hear the sound of running water.

When he leaves I dunk myself to rinse and I stand up, grabbing a nearby towel to dry off some before I step out of the tub. I look at him. It looks like I knocked him out. Whatever. I pull the plug from the drain and wait for the tub to be empty before I tilt his head forward to look at his head. A small crack, but he'll get over it. I toss a towel over him and dry myself off. I wrap the towel around me and head out of the bathroom. I see Sans sitting on the couch below and I knock on the railing to get his attention.

"What's up?" he asks, not hiding any bit of checking me out. And he did not miss how my scar has all but disappeared. His eye sockets widen a little.

'Papyrus is unconscious and I need some new clothes.' I say and cross my arms.

Sans furrows his brow and puts his comic book down. He disappears and I can hear his footsteps in the bathroom. "You actually managed to crack his skull a little. He's gonna be pissed." Sans calls to me. He grunts and I hear something land on Papyrus's bed. San's walks out of his brother's room, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Go ahead and rummage through my brother's clothes for something. I'll be back." He says and disappears in a flash of blue. I sigh and start to go into Papyrus's room when I catch sight of my paintball gun behind the couch. I quickly walk down the stairs and pick it up. I smile a little. My only defense. Suddenly there's a tap on the door and a certain flower's voice.

"Friiiiiiiisk!" It calls.

I rush over to the door and open it a little. He slides in the door and I shut it right after him. He's shivering like mad and I pick him up, bringing him close to my chest as I head over to the fire. I sit in front of it, setting the paintball gun in my lap.

"Jesus its so c-cold here." He says getting as close to the fire as humanly possible. "I can't stay. Despite the royal guard's best effort, Asgore knows you're here. It won't be long before he sends someone to get you." He says turning to look at me. "And he will not stop until you're dead."


	24. Chapter 24: Sleeping on the Job

"Are you sure?" I whisper. I can feel my heart start to race.

Flowey is taken aback at the sound of my voice but answers, "Yes. Your trip will be harder this time. Not just the royal guard will be after you. If they even actively go after you. I hear down the grapevine that they have respect for you now. Especially after that ridiculous stunt you pulled saving one of them."

"Son of a bitch!" Can be heard upstairs. I rush him over to a window and open it.

"Thank you." I whisper. He nods and disappears.

I casually walk up the steps and go right into Papyrus's room, paintball gun in hand. I go through his dresser slowly, like its a normal thing to do. He hisses in pain I hear him moving on the bed. I set my weapon down on top of his dresser so I can pull oit a shirt to look at. Its red with something I can't read scrawled in black on the front. I fold it back up and move it to the side. I am not interested in wearing shirts I dont understand. I find another on, this time black. It has a gigantic red skull on the front. I slide it on and pull off the towel off.

He growls and I hear him stomp over to me. I whip around and his the gun to his chin, stopping him in his tracks about five feet from me. He growls again and I narrow my eyes at him.

"Playing hard-to-get now, are we?" He asks, raising a brow.

I push the barrel into his chin, forcing him to take a half step back. I then slowly lower the gun and set it back down on the dresser, but my eyes never leave him.

"Quit giving me mixed signals, woman!" He growls.

'Then don't drug me. I don't appreciate it. AT ALL. And then you talk about me like I'm not right in front of you.' I say.

"You say that, but you didn't tell me "no" once." He says with a smug smile, ignoring the second part.

I glare daggers at him, my face heating up a little. He doesn't respect me does he? 'Wipe that smile off your face before I come over there and smack it off.' I say.

"Challenge accepted." He says, smile widening.

I step closer slowly, hiding my eyes in my hair. When I get close enough, I punch him in the solarplex, forcing him to lean down a little. I reach up and smack his face while he's distracted. Then I turn back around and go through his drawers for some shorts. I have this sinking feeling that he let me do that, making the rage inside me bubble and tears prickle my eyes. I know he's so much stronger than me... And he LET me do that. I don't feel confident, I feel belittled. And I feel guilty for hitting him. He wasn't trying to kill me or anything. How am I supposed to give him a chance when he doesn't see me as an equal?

There's so much going on inside me. The shame of having been taken advantage of, the crushing weight of all my anger towards him and myself, the confusion of my feelings towards him and any of the monsters I've encountered in the underground, and the reality of how weak I am against any one of them if they truly wanted to kill me. I havent even met Asgore yet... It's a real struggle to hold back the tears.

He coughs a little and walks up to me, slowly this time. I only realized I was shaking when his hands were laid on my shoulders, gently steadying them. "Why are you shaking like that? I didn't even touch you." He asks.

"Just leave me alone." I whisper, the tears spilling over.

This only makes him wrap his arms around me. I hate so many things about this monster. I hate the way he just keeps wanting to use me, the way he treats his brother, how just now he made me feel weak... The worst thing is that I can't hate him. He's been sweet towards me too. I don't know how to feel.

I feel the sensation of my soul being pulled out of my chest and I start to panic, trying to pull away. "Shhh, relax." He says softly, wrapping his arms around me tighter and pulling it out in front of me. He touches it gently with a single finger and a chill goes down my spine.

"I.. I didn't mean to make you feel this way... I.. was only trying for playful banter." He says softly, turning me around slowly. He has this sad look in his eyes as he wipes my tears. He lets my soul slide back into my chest and holds me. "I'm sorry."

I hug him back hesitantly. I really dont know what to do.

God I'm a mess.

After a minute I push him away and go back to looking for clothes. I find a pair of drawstring sleep pants and I put them on, tying them around my waist. They're actually really warm. Then, avoiding eye contact, I walk to the bathroom to brush my hair. He follows me around, still naked, but doesnt say a word. I wish I knew were my scarf went... And my hair tie.. I walk downstairs and get myself some water before going back upstairs. Sans has been gone a long time...

I brush it off as I grab my weapon and put it on a nightstand. He's a grown skeleton, he can take care of himself. I notice that my cell phone is sitting on the nightstand, charging. I pick it up and and swipe it open. I slide into his bed on the edge and check for service as I feel fatigue set into my body. I'm so tired. Still none. I open my messages and reread them all, trying to instill some hope in myself. I feel Papyrus slide into the bed too when I open up my gallery. He gets really close, his head leaning against me as he peeks over my shoulder.

Pictures of outside, of the sun in the trees, pictures of the mountain itself, the humans that were hiking with me. Papyrus is staring intensely at my phone. I'm surprised that it is still in one piece after all I've been through. I'm even more surprised that he didn't get someone with flesh to open the lock screen and go through my phone.

We sit there, going through my phone a couple times, more for his benefit than mine. Suddenly, the window breaks open and I sit up ram-rod straight, weapon in hand. In comes a gigantic horse-man with a morning star mace in his hands.

"DIE HUMAN!" he growls, swinging his mace towards me. I jump up and roll out of the way as it slams down on where I used to be. I stand up and aim for his eyes. He goes to swing again and I shoot, getting paint all over his face. He cries out in surprise and pain as I book it out of the room and down the stairs. I shove my phone in my pocket and quickly shove on my boots, the sound of fighting echoing down the stairs. Screw a jacket, and screw Papyrus, I had to leave. I book it towards Waterfall, hoping that I don't run into any more of those mercenaries or freeze to death. I make it, but just barely. I can't feel my skin or my fingers or toes.

Flowey pops up from the ground near the wall just as I stopped to breathe. "Frisk! This way!" He says, reaching up and tapping a section of wall. The wall opens and Frisk runs inside. Inside is a long halway-like cavern with several doors on one side. I take a deep breath and jog along it until I spot Flowey at tue other end. He beckons me on and taps the wall again, revealing another passageway. This cavern had cracks in the ceiling where the sunlight was filtering through. On the ground I see a piece of farmland with little plants growing in it. We go through several more of these caverns before we land in a small cave. I stop and catch my breath, sliding down the wall oposite of the entrance.

Flowey pops up next to me. "Stay here, I'll let you know when things die down." He says and he points to the wall to my left. "The entrance to Hotland is on the other side of that wall. That's where I'll let you out. Ok? I'll be back soon."

I grab his leaf and mouth Papyrus? Sans?

"Sans is detained in the lab with Alphys and I'll go check on Papyrus. I'll be back." He says and disappears.

I relax into the wall, my weapon at the ready. I am so tired. Fatigue sets in quickly as I rub the scar on my stomach. My mouth is dry and my face and neck is covered in sweat. I am the mist uncomfortable that I could possibly be, but when I close my eyes, I'm out...

* * *

I wake up to the echo of footsteps coming towards me. I stiffen up and point my weapon at the tunnel, gripping it tightly. I know I only have a few shots left, maybe even none, but its the only one I have and I know it can be pretty damn intimidating. I stand up slowly, my limbs shaking with sleep and dissuse. I see a shadow overtake the doorway. The footsteps are only a few yards away now. I silently make my way over to the door and crouch on the left side of it. Hopefully, I can take them by surprise. Any second now. A toe passes the threshold and I stand up and swing my elbow into their face.

"Fuck! Ow!" Papyrus growls, holding where his nose would be. "You gotta stop doing that!" He's in his armor again and he's holding a bone in his hand.

I jump backwards and allow myself to relax a little. Flowey chooses thay moment to pop up. I go over to him, dragging Papyrus with me. I kneal down to him and make sure Papyrus is paying attention. 'Why didn't you wake me? How long was I out?' I ask.

Flowey sighs and I notice a few new knicks in his petals and leaves. "You know I can't understand that." He says.

Papyrus groans. "She wants to know why you didnt wake her and how long she was asleep."

Flowey looks at me. "I tried and probably about four hours." He says flatly.

I nod and look up at Papyrus. 'Sorry about your nose.' I say.

Papyrus just growls.

'If you're gonna be a dick when someone apoogizes to you, maybe I outta whack you again.' I say, glaring at him. 'Why can't you be civil for five fucking seconds?' I don't give him a chance to answer and I look at Flowey and he looks kind of surprised. I mouth Is it safe to go?

Flowey nods. "Yeah. I noticed that Alphys turned off all the cameras." He says. "We may not have much of a window to dash through Hotland undetected. I can't join through most of it because the floors are made of metal."

'We have to get to the king and end this madness.' I say. Flowey raises an eyebrow and Papyrus quickly translates.


	25. Chapter 25: Always Watching Dusted

**Happy Independence Day to those who live in the US :D**

* * *

Papyrus grabs my hand and shoves something in it. "You forgot this." He says gruffly. Its my knife in it's sheath. I quickly strap it to my thigh and go over to the wall. It opens for Flowey and I slip through, whiping back and forth, knees slightly bent. The hall is clear and I motion for Papyrus to follow me.

I can almost feel Papyrus rolling his eyes. We walk cautiously passed Sans's empty sentry post and the guard in a metal suit of armor ignores us completely. I'm honestly surprised, but I keep going. I get to the door and turn around. I watch the path behind us as Papyrus opens the door to the lab.

"Why are you doing that? Your behavior is very puzzling." Papyrus growls.

'You like puzzles, figure it out.' I sign in shorthand, not looking at him. He opens the door and I pass through backwards, shutting the door silently behind us. I turn around and see that the room is darkened and full of walking volcanoes, a rope-snake-thing with a ball of flame for a head, and something that looks like a sentient plane with a wig. I crouch down, not sure how we're going to get through here without a fight. I watch them pace in their limited space when suddenly, an opportunity presents itself. All the volcanoes are in a line. I aim for the one closest to us and it sends them tumbling like dominoes.

The rope-snake-thing lunges at us an I pull my knife out and cut at its body. I severed its head and it turns to dust. My eyes widen as something cold rushes through me. I didn't mean to kill him. I quickly squeeze the sudden urge to do it again out of my body. I shouldn't have let my internal struggle distract me, because the next thing in know, I'm pinned to the door by a speeding rocket right at the spot where I got hit the last time I was here. The pain brings me back to reality. It's tail end is spitting out a fire so hot, I swear I can feel my skin melting off my body. I push it off of me to my right and it shoots off again, ricocheting off the walls and finally, hitting the sentient plane and knocking it out. I slump down the wall, holding my stomach. Its so hard to breathe right now. I look at my knife that's still in my hand.

I killed somebody...

My whole body starts to shake and my grip becomes loose. I drop it and it lands on the linoleum with a deafening clatter. I barely register the skeleton in front of me. I can only see the dust all over my body. My heart is hammering in my chest and my breath is getting quicker. The shaking gets worse.

"She's having a panic attack." I hear Alphys say. Then I feel a prick in my arm. "Its a steroid relax her lungs and to open her airways." She says.

After a few minutes I find it easier to breathe. I pinch my eyes shut so I dont look at myself again. 'Get it off!' I say. 'Shower, anything!' I feel someone shove my knife back in its holster and drag me to my feet by my elbows. I am blindly led towards a ladder. I climb up quickly and step to the side. I must be on the loft. I'm led in another direction and I hear a shower turn on. I quickly get into it, ignoring that I still had clothes on and start rubbing my skin. The ash feels gritty when mixed with water and I desperately try and get it off of me. I slowly open my eyes so I can see what I missed.

Every glance almost sends me into another panic attack. The guilt really starts to eat at me... "What have I done..?" I whisper.

"Frisk, stop. There's nothing you can do about it now. Put it passed you. The only way you can go now is forward." Sans growls.

"What happened to 'stopping this madness'?" Papyrus barks.

I look at them. All three of them are still in they're right. I pull my phone out of my pocket and hand it to Papyrus. Its soaked, as is my knife and holster. I hand them to him too. I close the clouded glass door and take off my wet clothes and shoes, hanging them over the door. I wash myself for real and brush through my hair again with my fingers. When I turn off the shower, all has vacated except for Papyrus. He's holding a towel and a stack of clothes. I towel off before I take the clothes from him. Its a bra, a pair of underwear, and surprisingly, my paintball suit. It fixed but you can still see the circle of stitching. I put the gear and look back at him. He's holding two more things: my scarf and a hair tie. I put my hair up in a ponytail and wrap the scarf around my neck.

I sorta feel whole again. Well, as much as one can feel with no shoes.

I take a deep breath. Its time to go.

When I step back out onto the loft, I notice that its decorated with anime memorabilia. I shake my head and climb down the ladder. I also notice the odd lack of unconscious monsters. 'Where's my knife and gun?' I asked the two monsters hovering by what looks to be a mechanical box. Its humming for some reason.

"Drying and over there." Sans says pointing to the far counter.

I nod and go collect my things from the counter.

"I have to tell you, Frisk, that beyond this point, you will get no help from me or the skeleton brothers. Mettaton has cameras that record 24/7 for his show and they need to be kept running." Alphys says.

"The king is always watching." Papyrus says, glowering.

"Where are her shoes?" Sans asks.

Papyrus takes off his and produces a pair of fresh socks.

"Boss, those might he too big for her." Sans says.

'They are too big.' I say, walking back over. 'Besides, wouldn't look better for you guys if I was wearing a pair of shoes no one has seen you in?'

"She's got a point." Alphys says. She goes up the ladder and pulls down a pair of raggedy, but still tough pair of boots. "Wear these." She barks at me. "Undyne stopped wearing these before I built Mettaton."

I slide on the pair of offered socks and try on the boots. They fit perfectly. They were a faded black but not too faded. 'Thanks for your help.' I say and go for the exit on the other side of the lab.

Papyrus puts a hand on my shoulder. "One more thing, Frisk." He says. The humming stops and the machine dings. My phone slides out on a tray. The color on the outside is now a bright red. Out of another tray comes a phone case. Its red too. She snaps it onto my phone and hands it to me.

I take it. 'You didn't have to do this...' I say slowly.

"No, but Papyrus was whining that you wouldn't be able to call him if you were in trouble." She says flatly, giving Papyrus an annoyed look.

"I do not whine! The Great and Malevolent Papyrus would never do something so low!" He shouts.

"Pffft" escapes my lips. His head swings so fast, I thought it was going to pop off. 'Maybe, but you sure as hell are bossy.' I say.

"It's what Boss does best." Sans says with a grin.

"Are you being condescending?" Papyrus growls in a low tone.

"No way, Boss." He says throwing his hands up defensively with a nervous smile and sweat beading down his skull.

Papyrus nods and grunts, crossing his arms.

I roll my eyes at him and shove my phone in my bra. When I look up, I catch Papyrus looking away. I shake my head at him. 'Thank you, again, Dr. Alphys.' I say and make my way to the door. Papyrus escorts me. Behind me, I can hear Sans muttering something and Alphys agreeing. Just as I'm about to touch the button to open the door, Papyrus turns me around and plants one right on my lips. I soon feel like a puddle. Its the kind of kiss that makes you see stars. When he releases my lips, I'm breathless.

"Whoo! Go Boss!" Sans cheers from the other end of the room. I feel my face heating up.

When the hell did this turn into a 50's romance?


	26. Chapter 26: Tenderized Then Exploded

When I regain my senses, I push him off of me, righting my scarf unnecessarily. He smiles a little and I exit the lab. I follow the thin path and step onto some piping. Efficient, I guess, to use a material transferring device as a walkway. I walk along it until I get to a conveyor belt. I step on it and it moves so quickly that I'm almost thrown off. I barely keep my balance on the odd and unnecessary turns and it throws me off on the end. Ow.

I walk along a second section of piping and find a diamond. I touch it and it shatters, cooling me down in this hot environment and dropping a pair of sunglasses on my head. I put them on and take a picture with the most stoic face I could muster. I send it to Sans with the caption Cool x2. I get back the emoji version of Sans's sleeping face. Didn't even know that was possible.

I put my phone away again and I look down the path. Hot steam vents. Damn it. On the bright side, they easily had force of pressure to push me across the gap in front of me. I sigh and jump across. But I don't land on my feet. I land on my face. It's after a few vents that I finally learn how to balance. Then they start switching directions on me. It's a real pain to figure out my way through, though I manage to find more ammunition for my weapon. Alphys is helping without helping.

After that madness, I make it to another section of piping. It has lazers moving across it at about the height of my midsection. I shoot them with my paintballs, making them overload and explode in a cinematic manner. It was great. The moving ones stopped and shook before they exploded. Thank the gods of cool for these sunglasses.

I make my way onwards to a fork in the road. I head straight, only to find the door locked. Perfect. I have a feeling that this is a puzzle of some kind. I go back to the fork and hang a left, going into that door. It's a giant screen with Mettaton's face and some text that says "Smile! You're on camera!" on it with a podium in front of it. When I touch the podium, the panel slides open and a kind of game controller rises from it. It has a joystick on the left, a big button with the word "fire" on it and two buttons on the right labeled "A" and "B". The screen changes to a bunch of black and white boxes. On the bottom of the screen are two spears that look a lot like Undyne's and on the top is what looks like a target. I move the joy stick and the selector moves from box to box. Alright, this should be easy enough: get a spear in the target.

It doesn't take long. I broke a box on accident and it cleared the way for the second spear. Next!

I go to the room to the left of the locked door and find a lazer blocking my way. I shoot it and it explodes like all the other ones. I always liked pyrotechnics. This puzzle is different yet the same. More boxes, two shots and It looks like I have to put the picture back together. There's also a timer off to the side, slowly counting down. Something tells me that I really wouldn't like it if it gets to zero. The pressure is on! The timer has slid down to ten seconds before I finish the picture. The boxes then turn over and turn into a target, which I waste no time shooting the spears into.

I wipe my brow. That was a close one.

I go to leave the room and there's C4 stuck to the door. It beeps and explodes, throwing me backwards into the podium. I swear I hear something snap but I can't allow myself to panic. I get my legs under me, by back throbbing. Then my phone rings. I pull it out of my bra and answer it.

"Get your ass up!" Papyrus's gruff voice says.

I scoff into the receiver and slowly make my way to my feet, using the podium to lean on. What the hell does it look like I'm doing?

"If you die, we're going to have problems." he growls.

"Che!" I half laugh. No fucking kidding.

"Good, now get moving! You have a long way to go." he growls and hangs up.

I roll my eyes and hobble towards the door. My ears are still ringing. I honestly don't know how I survived that.

I go through the center door, over some steam vents, and I find myself in a dark room. I grope the wall to my left and I find a light switch. I flick it on and before me is a room that looks like it doubles as a torture chamber and a kitchen. There are cameras everywhere. Then Mettaton rises from the floor, game show music and confetti polluting the air.

"Welcome, my fabulous fans to another episode of _Cooking with Mettaton_!" he says in his monotone voice,a recording of an audience clapping playing. "Today, we are going to make Roast Human!"

Suddenly several little somethings push me forward and start crawling on my back. Several of them jump in front of me and start dragging me towards a stone table covered in blood. They're tiny versions of Mettaton! I fight it as best I can and a feeling of dread settles in my stomach as we inch closer to it.

"First, prepare your seasonings!" he says and lists off a bunch of different spices and vegetables as the tiny robots strap me to the table.

"Next, you'll want to preheat your oven to 218*C or 148*C if you want to slow cook your human." he says and rolls over to the part of the counter that has a baking dish and stuff like tin foil. He begins to tell them how to prepare the baking dish of their choice as what looks like several giant metal meat tenderizers on a wheel lowers from the darkness of the ceiling. My eyes widen to the size of saucers. I pull at my restraints harder.

The closer it gets, the tighter my restraints feel. Oh, this is gonna get hurt. I pull on my thumbs with all of my might.

"The next thing you do is prep your human! I personally like my human nice and tender." he says and the wheel starts spinning, faster and faster, like a sawblade. I snap the tendons in my thumbs and pull the joint out of their sockets.

Fuck that hurts!

I slip my hands free and throw myself forward as the hammers come down, grinding the stone table into rubble. Getting my feet free is much harder now, but my life is worth a little pain. I roll away from the table as the wheel loses a pulley and goes out of control. It tears up the kitchen and the torture chamber. As Mettaton and his stage hands are freaking out and going after the death wheel, I exit stage left.

I slam the door behind me and kneel down to rest for a minute. I see a diamond several feet in front of me. I sigh in relief and quickly set my thumbs back where they go. Hurts more going back in than they did going out. I stand up and touch the diamond. It shatters and the pain in my hands is completely gone.

At the end of the path is an elevator. I raise my weapon as I press the call button. It dings open and, thankfully its open. I peek in and around the sides. No one hiding. I press the up button and it takes me to the next floor. Weapon still raised, I wait for the doors to slide open.

Ding!

two feet in front of the door is another C4 bomb. I quickly hit the the close-door button and it starts beeping. I throw myself into the side of the elevator and the doors actually start to close. It explodes before the door closes all the way and the fire burns up all the oxygen in the elevator. I cough as I try to get the doors to open again. I stumble out, lungs screaming for air. My throat is burning. I slowly make my way out of the cloudy smoke and over to Sans where he's selling hotdogs. His starting price is 50g. No way I have that much. I don't even know where my money went when my midsection had a hole in it.

'Hotdog, please.' I says, trying to get my breath back.

"50g, doll." he says with a smug grin.

I bend down to his eye level and get as close as I can without him missing my signs. 'What can I do to convince you to lower the price?' I ask, the most suggestive look on my face. I even caress his bony cheek. His face flares a deep red and his eyes turn to hearts. He's at a loss for words, sputtering and stuttering. He hands me a hotdog, nothing intelligible coming out of his mouth. I take a bite slowly as he watches, the hotdog tingling on my tongue. I finish the hotdog and saunter away, a smile on my face. I've never actually been able to pull that off before.


	27. Chapter 27: Tell Us a Joke

**Get ready for some giggles.**

* * *

I walk past a room with a sign in it that I can't read and room with nothing but a rusty sword. I leave the sword alone, having no prior training with one.

Next is a couple of conveyor belts. Apparently, I've tripped a motion sensor, because the switches on the conveyor going the direction I want to go have started counting down. I fire at each one, stopping them before they could explode. Dodged a bullet there. I safely ride the short conveyor belt. Another series of steam vents. God, I hate these already. I quickly find my way across, even though they switch on me almost halfway through. Asshole vents. I almost fall into the lava below at least six times. God, it's so hot. My suit is sticking to me and I'm starting to sweat in rivers. So gross.

I wish I had brought something to drink. On the other side I get to a diamond next to a random microwave. I touch it and it shatters, drying my sweat and cooling me off temporarily. It does nothing for my dry mouth though. My phone starts to ring. I sigh and pull it out of my bra. It's sticky from my sweat. Double gross. I wipe it off best I can and answer it.

"You can do better than that, Frisk. That was the sorriest display of puzzle solving I have ever seen." Papyrus growls. A tiny hovering camera gets really close and tries to get audio from my phone. I shoot the lens, cracking it and sending it to the boiling depths below. I watch it go, not really replying to Papyrus. I keep going, waiting to see if he was going to talk some more. Apparently not. He hangs up and I put my phone back in my bra.

Suddenly two guards in armor appear in front of me. I tense up. One has like these reptile ears coming out of his helmet and the other one has bunny ears coming out of his helmet. Oooohkaaay...

"Stop, Human!" one says.

"Give us your soul!" the other growls.

They come at me with their swords and I jump back. Swing, swing, kick, downward swing. Ok.. I'd say this is too easy, but it's probably that way on purpose.

'Come on, guys! You don't have to go that easy on me!' I say, knowing that in a few seconds their ear pieces would buzz... Or however they communicate when their spread apart at their posts. Their ears twitch and suddenly their attacks are random. I jump and dodge them, but I take a kick to the chest, falling down on my back. As they raise their swords, I raise my paintball gun and shoot them both in the eye gaps in their helmets. They shout and take several steps backwards, almost falling off the path. I grab them by the collars and slam their heads together, knocking them out in the middle of the pathway.

Whew.

I walk into the next section and suddenly it's dark. Then a spotlight hits me and I hear Mettaton's voice. "Ladies and GentleMonsters! Welcome to the Mettaton News hour. This next segment is called _Windows Into the Soul_!" he says. A small hovering camera with a giant mic attached to it gets right up into my face. I push it back to a distance I'm comfortable with. "Human! What do you think of the Underground?"

Right about now, I wish there was such things as sarcasm in sign language. 'It's cold, then its wet, and now it's hot.' I say, taking my sunglasses off.

"How can anyone understand you when you talk like that? Can't you speak normally?" he asks.

I shake my head. 'I'd rather not talk about why.' I say.

I hear Mettaton say in a far off voice "Is there anyone who knows what it's saying? I can't tell if it's stupid or actually saying something."

I roll my eyes.

"Finally, we roped in a translator! Welcome, the Great and Malevolent Papyrus!" Mettaton says. Recorded applause. "What is that language called?"

"She speaks in hands." Papyrus's voice says gruffly. It does not sound like he likes being there.

"Well, what did it say?" Mettaton asks.

"She said, and I quote "It's cold, then it's wet, and now it's hot." Then she said, "I'd rather not talk about why."" the bone head says.

"Fascinating! How did you learn this language and how does she know it?" Mettaton asks.

"Well my father used to speak it. Until an accident in his lab caused him to die before me or my useless brother could dust him ourselves." Papyrus says. "Apparently humans use it on the surface too."

I cross my arms, bored already with this. I'd rather something tried to kill me right now.

I shouldn't have jinxed it. In front of me, the camera drops what looks like an intricate bomb.

"Show us your skills human!" Mettaton yells.

I give the camera a flat look and kick it over the edge, letting it explode in the lava. I don't know how to diffuse a bomb.

"Well that was anti-climatic." Papyrus says. But I can hear a smirk in his voice.

I roll my eyes and shoot the camera, sending it too into the lava below. I keep walking until I find another elevator. I raise my weapon and take this elevator as I did the last one. This time, there's no incident. That's a lovely break. I pass what looks like a bake sale. Only it's run by a thousand tiny black spiders. There is a plate of donuts cut into pieces labled "Free Samples". I pick one up and go to put it in my mouth, but the way the spiders are staring at me eagerly make me put it down again. They scowl at me but do nothing further.

The next section looks like another triple door puzzle. I frown and put my sunglasses back on. Not a lot of imagination went into this did it? I head right first, navigating through the hot steam vents, since it seems to be par for the course. There are lazers and a conveyor belt. I shoot the lazers and go on my merry way. The puzzle is more boxes and spears. Though this time, the boxes have to be arranged a certain way. I solve it just as something starts beeping. I hit the deck and the whole screen explodes, scorching everything and filling the room with smoke. I cough and quickly make my way out of the room.

My face and sunglasses are covered in soot and smoke. I lift my sunglasses off my nose and put them on top of my head. I probably look like I came right out of a Die Hard movie. I sit for a minute in front of the vents, trying to get my breath back. The humidity is surprisingly helping clear out my lungs. They're good for something besides boiling my ass.

After a bit, I go straight ahead and quickly get to solving this puzzle. Same concept. It's done much faster than the last one and I book it out of the room as something starts beeping. I manage to close the door behind me and the explosion jolts the door a little. I sigh in relief.

I make my way to the big door and let myself through it. I am so exhausted. My limbs kind of feel weak, but luckily, there's a diamond right up ahead. I feel energy surging through me, strengthening my body, and for a second, it feels like I might actually get out of this nightmare alive.

I come to a door that has a single word on it with a stick sitting right in front of it. "Muffet". I feel compelled to pick up the stick, so I do and go through the door, weapon raised. The lighting is dimmed and the path is completely covered in cobwebs.

"Don't you know how rude it is not to knock first?" a voice says from somewhere on the ceiling. A humanoid spider woman with six arms lowers herself from the ceiling on a single thread. She's wearing a poofy-skirted dress and her black hair is up in pigtails.

"For that, I will take your soul!" she says and webbing shoots out from her finger tips.

I roll forward to avoid them. I aim at her with my paintball gun and start shooting at her. She swings out of the way on her spider's thread.

She cackles. "Just think of how much I could charge the king for it! It would be astronomical!" she says, laughing like Zoisite from a show I watched as a kid. God it was annoying.

She shoots more webbing at me and thousands of tiny black spiders start to converge on me. Fuck me. I start running, stepping on them as I go and ignoring the few that managed to climb up me and start biting. I'm almost to the door when a giant monster that looks like a disfigured spider. When it catches sight of what I've been holding it starts to wag...something. I wave it around for a bit and it's eyes follow it. I throw it in the abyss below and it follows it. I book it out the door without a second thought, though my vision is starting to blurr.

I can't stop now. I shake off the remaining spiders and keep going. Though, now I'm starting to get dizzy and light headed. My limbs are going numb. I stop to rest next to a brick wall and my phone rings. The sound makes my ears ring. I pull it out and answer it.

"Frisk, the venom with kill you if you fall asleep. What ever you do, don't doze off." It's surprisingly Alphys. "You will seize and go into cardiac arrest. Just hang in there and you'll live." And she hangs up.

Thanks? Jesus. I pull my sunglass up my face and set them on top of my head to look at my phone. I pull up my ringtones and find the most annoying one in my arsenal. I'm finding it really hard to breathe now. I lay down and put my phone beside my head, getting away from the wall. If I'm gonna seize, I don't need a head injury too. I hit play on the annoying ringtone and it's the only I can hear as I black out. The next thing I know, I'm awake in a dark room. I am exhausted and my body feels weak. The only light is my phone and even then, I can't see anything.

"Good, you're up." Sans whispers. "I gave you an antidote. You were slipping there for a second."

I take a deep breath and hit play on the annoying ringtone to keep myself from falling asleep.

"Gotta go, doll. The lights are about to come back on." he whispers and disappears. The lights come back on and it looks like I haven't moved from where I laid down. I get up slowly and rub the pain out of my spider bites. God, that really sucked.

I get up slowly and make my way to what looks like a stage. There's a spotlight on the mic on center stage. Tiny robots push me up to it and I almost lose my balance.

"Tell us a joke!" someone from the nonexistent crowd yells.

I consider that for a moment.

"Papyrus's puzzles." I say softly into the mic and a recording of an audience laughing is played. I bow, snickering.

Then suddenly a trap door opens and I'm falling. I land on some hard ground in front of what looks like another puzzle. The tiles are all different colors. Mettaton is at the other end and starts running his mouth on what each tile does, though he's going to fast for me to remember any of them. Some of them are on fire and some of them are filled with water and others have monsters standing on them. I remember yellow is electric and blue is water.

I kneel before the puzzle and reach into the nearest blue tile, scooping water in my hands. I splash it all on the tiles, connecting several of the electric tiles. It shorts out the whole board and I walk across unhindered.


	28. Chapter 28: I'd Rather Hear You Say It

**Ya'll ready for this? *plays music***

* * *

When I pass Mettaton, he whispers "I'm sorry.." before stabbing me in the side.

"Your blood, my lovely viewers!" he shouts jovially as I collapse, my own knife in my side. I quickly pull it out and try to get up, only to fall on my face. I'm bleeding out like it's nobody's business and its hard to get my legs under me.

"I would like to take this moment to announce a new house paint color! Human's Blood Red! Made with real human blood!" he says, turning one of his hands into a vacuum to collect my blood.

That's just gross.

I crawl over to the nearest wall and force myself to my feet. This is ridiculous. I hobble my way towards what looks like a gigantic hotel. I walk up to the diamond in front of the fountain and I touch it. It shatters and the bleeding stops. For now, at least. I walk up to the counter. "I need a room." I whisper to the receptionist.

The monster with a giant hand for a head gives me a sour look. "That'll be 300g." they say. I can't really discern their gender based on their voice.

"Just bill it to the Skeleton Brothers." I say.

The receptionist sighs and types some things on their computer and hands me a room key. I take it gratefully and head up to the room number on the tag. I take the elevator to the second floor and open my door. I shut it and lock it behind me. I go into the bathroom and turn on the shower. This wound needs cleaned. I pull myself up onto the counter, setting my gun down, and try to take off my shoes without jostling my wound too much.

Jesus, this really fucking hurts.

I take my socks off and pull my scarf off from around my neck. Great, I got blood on it. I hope it doesn't stain. There's a knock on the door. I pull my knife out of my sheath and make my way to the door. I look through the eye cautiously. It's just Sans and Papyrus. I frown and open the door to let them in, pulling the hair tie out of my hair.

"What's the idea telling everyone that my puzzles are a joke?! And then sending the bill to our house?!" Papyrus growls, stepping into my room. Sans follows him quietly.

'I don't know what happened to my money. Or my backpack.' I say, ignoring the first question. I notice that Papyrus has a first aid kit. I sigh and go back into the bathroom, holding my side, to take off my paintball gear.

"How'd you get the bleeding to stop?" Papyrus asks, following me.

'If I told you I'd have to kill you.' I say.

"Unlikely." he says, picking up a washrag from the towel rack. "Just tell me."

'You'd think I was crazy.' I say, stepping into the shower and letting the warm water run over my wound. It stings, but it needs cleaning. I stay under until the blood stops. I look at it. It's still a gaping hole in my side but it's got nothing on the last big wound I got. I can still move with this one. And it doesn't look like it hit anything major, thank God.

"I already think you're crazy." he says, soaking the washrag with antiseptic. He kneels down and gently pats my wound with the washrag. I grip his shoulder pads, letting out a quiet but still high-pitched squeal of pain. "Sit down on the side of the tub, you're going to like this next part even less."

I do as he says, sitting down with my back to him and my hands gripping the handrail on the opposite wall. He sits down next to me on the side my wound is on, straddling the tub, and his hands start to glow orange. I can feel my skin and muscle stitching themselves together. It's uncomfortable and hurts almost as bad as getting the wound.

He stops after about ten minutes, huffing and covered in sweat. I look at it. It's just a blade-sized dent of raw skin in my side. By no means has it stopped hurting. Papyrus gently rubs on some kind of ointment. It tingles as it soaks into my skin.

I sigh in exhaustion. That was so tiring. 'Thank you.' I say, rubbing my eyes.

He suddenly pulls me against him, startling me. "I'd rather hear you say it." he purrs.

I feel my face heat up and it has nothing to do with the shower. "Thank you." I say softly.

He smiles wickedly. He puts me up on his lap, looking at me suggestively. I lean back and turn down the hot water. Just as his tongue was about to touch my skin, I splash him in the face with cold water.

"Chill." I say, slipping from his grasp in his confusion to take an actual shower. I use the shampoo and conditioner on my hair and the bar soap to wash all the sweat and grime off my body. I still had soot all over my face and all he can think about is wanting to bang. Jeez. I can feel him watching me, even now.

I turn and look at him and he smiles with satisfaction. I roll my eyes and go back to my shower. I wish I had a razor so I could shave. I find myself contemplating whether I should just say "fuck it" and use my knife.

Papyrus opens a drawer and pulls something out. "Hey, do you need this?" he asks. I turn and look at him. He's holding up a little pink disposable razor.

My eyes widen and I nod as I snatch it from him. After ten more minutes in the shower, I am rid of unnecessary body hair. I'd almost hate to go back into that shitstorm that is the Underground and get all dirty again. I turn off the water and Papyrus grabs me a towel. I towel off and wrap the towel around me.

As I lift my leg to get out of the tub, Papyrus nabs my ankle and runs his hand up my leg. I grab the handrail to keep my balance. "So soft." he murmurs.

I nod, my face heating up a little. When he releases my leg, I grab my phone and head into the room. Sans is laying on the bed, spread out like a starfish and looking so zen. I quickly take a picture, but only after I turn off the shutter sound. I walk over and tap his foot. He opens an eye socket.

'Move over some.' I say, going around to get under the covers. He scoots over and I snuggle into the pillow, shoving my phone onto the nightstand. The room is paid for and I am damn well sleeping here. Gods, its so comfortable. I'm almost asleep when I feel something crawl on top of me.

I freeze and look over my shoulder. Papyrus sits on my ass and pulls down the cover to expose my back. I pull my arms under me to hide my chest and Papyrus does the unthinkable: he starts giving me a back massage. It's so wonderful. I am putty in his hands.

I close my eyes and let it happen. I feel all my stress just melt away. I peek over at starfish Sans and his eyes are closed, this contented smile on his face. I wonder what it means.

After ten minutes, the weight next to me disappears and Papyrus rolls off of me. I hear the sound of boots falling to the floor and I feel the turbulence of him getting his armor off. After all that, the only thing that he's got left is a pair of boxers. I peeked.

He gets under the covers and pulls me into his boney chest. I let him, his warmth the only thing I needed to fall asleep.

* * *

And sleep I did. I have never felt more rested. When I wake up, I am starving. I sit up slowly, rubbing my eyes. Papyrus is still asleep. On a whim, I sit on his chest, picking up the room service menu. I look through it slowly. I think I'm in the mood for some eggs and bacon with a side of flapjacks. I peek at him when I feel his breathing hitch.

He is looking right at me, suspicion in his eyes.

'You know, I think that you could probably sleep through a train wreck.' I say, putting the menu down.

"And that's a bad thing?" he asks, taking my hands in his.

My face heats up a little and I can't quite make eye contact anymore. He won't let go of my hands either. Sly bastard. "No, I suppose not." I whisper. "But I've been sitting on your chest for at least ten minutes now."

He smirks and quickly flips us so his body is on top of mine, yielding a yip from me. My face is on fire now. He pins my hands on either side of my head and he spreads my legs with his knee.

"I'm gonna have you again, human." he states and busies himself with my chest. Why are they sensitive all of a sudden? My heart rate skyrockets.

I don't know whether I should tell him no.

His tongue is hot against my skin, leaving glowing red saliva all over me. I find myself arching into him. His tongue slides from my breasts up to my neck. Where he clamps his teeth down. I start to panic and he weaves his phalanges in with mine, rubbing the back of my hands reassuringly.

"Shhh, I'm not gonna hurt you." he says, voice unhindered some how. "Unless you're into that."

I bite my lip and his tongue drags back and forth along my neck. The sensation made everything tingle. My breath comes out in huffs. My skin is burning now, everything is burning. He rubs his pelvis against mine in the most enticing way. My breath hitches and he chuckles, letting my hands free and sliding his down to my hips, gripping them tightly. He frees himself from the confines of his boxers and starts rubbing at my slick folds.

Oh god, I want him.

He rams himself in and doesn't stop. I wrap my arms around his neck and dig my nails into his shoulder blades. He sucks in a breath of air and releases his jaw from my neck, pinning my wrists above my head with one hand. He stops completely and looks me right in the eye.

"Naughty, naughty. You'll get your chance." he says, licking and biting my neck.

I shiver and whine, wrapping my legs around his hips and trying to pull him closer.

"Oh? Does my lovey pet want some more?" Papyrus purrs.

I nod vigorously.

"Say it." he says, a soft command.

"Give me more.." I whisper.

"More of what?" he asks and he thrusts in. "This?"

"Yes!" I say, as loud as I can muster.

"One must always give pet what she wants." he purrs and goes harder and faster. He kisses me as he sends me over the edge. Pure ecstasy. I kiss him back, pulling his body as close to mine as possible. He buries his teeth in my shoulder as he climaxes and our chests spark. He saw it too.

I look up at him in confusion. 'What does it mean?' I ask.

He blinks in surprise. "Well, it means that we are a match." he says.

'For what?'

"We're soulmates."


	29. Chapter 29: A Gallon of Orange Juice

**Here's the next chapter. Enjoy and review!**

* * *

"WHAT?" I squeak.

"Well, that would explain why I'm compelled to do things that I wouldn't normally do." he murmurs, almost ignoring my shock completely. I punch him in the chest to bring him back to reality.

'What does that even mean?' I ask desperately. I barely know this guy and he's telling me we're soulmates? Has the world gone pair-shaped without me noticeing?

"Well, it's a thing with monsters. When two souls resonate, they spark like ours just did." he says. "Its a bond. A bond that holds two monsters together. They can read each other's thoughts if they wanted, know what they're feeling, and always know where they are. Its a bond of trust and commitment. A bond can't be made unless the two trust each other completely."

I bite my lip. 'So, it's not necessarily mandatory? To bond when the sparks fly..' I ask.

"No, it's not. But when a monster's soulmate rejects them, they die." he says flatly.

Uhhh... 'Well, I dont think it would be good for anyone of you died... So I'm not saying no.' I say

"So what are you saying?" He says, sitting back on his bottom, arms resting on his knees.

I sit up against the headboard. 'I'm saying that we shouldn't skip from fuck buddies to marriage.' I say. 'I don't exactly remember either of us asking the other into a relationship.'

He crosses his arms and sits cross-legged. There's a pregnant silence.

Then he says, "Do I have to be the one to ask?"

I school any emotion off of my face. 'I don't know, do you?' I ask.

He sighs and there's another pause.

"Will you be my woman?" He asks, leaning forward a little.

I think about, letting him sweat about it a little. I could cut the tension with a knife.

'Ok.' I say, picking up the room service menu again. 'Whay do you want to order for breakfast?'

He flops backwards, groaning in exasperation. "Maybe I should just strangle you and get it over with." He mutters under his breath.

I roll my eyes and smack his leg, getting his attention. 'Focus. Breakfast.' I say, flipping through the menu.

He groans again and rests up on his elbows, giving me a level look. "I will never understand you human." He says. "In the Underground, usually a female will tell you what she wants or how she thinks no matter how much anyone cares. But, you are a puzzle."

'I thought you liked puzzles.' I say absently. 'I'm thinking about ordering eggs. Maybe bacon.'

He sighs and takes the menu from me. "I'll order for us." He says taking a quick look at it and levitating the phone closer. He picks it up and dials a number. "Number two on the breakfast menu and a six. A gallon of orange juice. Don't you dare mix any lemon juice into it Jerry. Yeah, I know its you. Don't fucking test me. Yeah, it better be fucking perfect or else. I know where you live." He says and hangs up.

I blink in surprise and get up to make coffee in the little kitchenette. Its terrible, bearable. I sit in an armchair and sip it from this pretty patterned mug.

When I look over at the bed, Papyrus is laying on his stomach, head propped on his hand and staring at me.

'What?' I ask

"We are going to have to have sex again." He says flatly.

'Why?'

"Because every little thing you do makes me want to jump your bones." He says frowning.

'A Sans-worthy pun.' I point out.

He groans in annoyance, face-palming.

He reaches down into his pants on the floor and pulls out his phone. "Put both hands on the cup." He instructs.

I raise an eyebrow but I do as he asks.

"Cross your legs. The closest leg to me on top." He says.

I do.

"Now, rest your elbows on the armrests and lean back." He says.

I do and his phone flashes.

"Hello, new wallpaper..." he mutters.

I roll my eyes.

"Now you have to take a sexy photo of me for your wallpaper." he says.

'I'd rather have a sleeping Papyrus as my wallpaper.' I say taking a sip of my coffee.

"Why?" he asks.

'Because that's when you're actually relaxed.' I say. 'You're never relaxed. Not even around me.'

"How do you know that I'm not relaxed right now?" he asks, standing up as someone knocks on the door.

'Because, the set of your shoulders is the same as anywhere else and around anyone else.' I say.

Papyrus walks over to the door, opening it with the chain on. "Leave it there." he growls and closes the door to undo the chain. He opens the door just wide enough to pull the breakfast cart through. I move from the armchair to the table against the wall. He sets an empty glass on the table and fills it to the brim with orange juice. Then he adds a stripped straw. He pulls the covers off the plates and inspects them, his eye glowing red. He pulls a small device out of the little vase of flowers and smashes it between his fingers. He also reaches under the cart's table cloth and pulls out a small camera who's lens is covered by his palm. On the side it says "MTT Productions". He crushes that too until the light turns off.

'What the hell is Alphys doing?' I ask.

"What do you mean?" he asks. "They're supposed to make it look like they're still trying to kill us."

'Well... Mettaton told me he was sorry before he stabbed me.. It just seems to me that he really doesn't want to do this... At all..' I say as he sets a plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes in front of me. I add a thank you absently.

He nods in acknowledgment. "Well... He does have to make it look good. He has to follow every order Alphys gives to him." he says, sitting down with his plate and filling his glass with orange juice. He hands me a set of silverware and we start eating.

Then something occurs to me. 'You know.. I haven't had a single nightmare since I got here... To the Underground..' I say.

He looks at me, chewing his omelet as he considers this. "Nightmare?" he asks.

I nod. 'I was getting them less and less, but usually get them several times a week... And I wake up screaming.' I say, rubbing my forehead.

There's a short silence, Papyrus looking at me like he wants to say something.

"The nightmares stopped for me too." he says softly. "And for Sans."

My brows furrow in confusion. 'That is an odd coincidence.' I say.

He nods, considering that. We eat our breakfast in relative silence.


	30. Chapter 30: Breakfast of Champions

**Howdy my lovely readers! I hope you enjoy the next segment of this epic adventure! Please leave a review! I'm starting to get stuck and I needs inspiration! lol**

* * *

I tap the table to get his attention. 'What was your childhood like?' I ask.

"Uhm.. Normal? I guess?" he says. "It was us and Dad until he croaked. Then it was just us."

'What do you define as normal around here?' I asks.

"Fights every day at school, fighting for your life on the streets, getting good marks and still getting beaten 'cause they could be better. That shit." he says rather bitterly.

'On the surface, it's like that sometimes too. For the ones that get themselves in too deep with street gangs.' I say. 'Though, it isn't like that everywhere. There's a spectrum of really good and super bad.'

"It's rough all over down here. That's why we want out so bad." Papyrus says. "Every monster that dies because of this stupid law, because we're trapped down here, a little more hope goes out the window. Ever since You started strutting around in Hotland, everyone in the capital have started to ease up a little. I made a trip there with Undyne last night before I came to see you and not a single monster challenged us."

I raise an eyebrow.

"Instead, they offered greetings." he says, in confused awe. "Just because you exist, people have hope in their hearts again. Though, admittedly they seem confused by you as well."

'Is it because I'm breaking the law?' I ask. 'And I haven't actually killed anyone? That I meant to at least..'

He nods, finishing off his omelet.

I sip my orange juice. 'This place is crazy.' I say.

"Try living here." he says flatly.

We finish breakfast and Papyrus's phone pings. He picks it up and looks at it. "Let's get dressed, Mettaton's already posting on social media." he says.

I nod, reluctant to start the day.

"So... Are you going to tell me about your childhood?" Papyrus asks as I head into the bathroom. Oddly my clothes are folded. And they smell like they've been cleaned. They've even been repaired. Sans?

I put my clothes on and do my hair as I think about what to tell him. When I'm all done in the bathroom, I walk over to the nightstand to collect my phone. He's got his pants and armor back on. 'Well...' I start. 'I was an orphan. My parents are either currently in jail or in a mental hospital. I was raised in an orphanage and none of the other kids liked me very much, but they left me alone.' I say as I put the strap to the paintball gun over my shoulder and stuff my phone in my bra. 'I spent most of my time either in school actually learning or sitting on top of this hill just outside town.'

I sit on the end of the bed to put my socks and boots on and Papyrus sits next to me to put his boots and gloves on.

"Well, that sounds lonely." he says.

'It was.' I say. 'That's why I got on you about being mean to your brother. It would be so nice to have someone who's had your back since birth.'

Papyrus looks at me as he considers that. "He has had my back. He's always protected me when we were little, even though a strong enough hit would kill him." he says.

I look at him, putting my foot down, both shoes tied. 'For real?' I ask, strapping my knife to my leg.

"Yes. Though, he is really fast. He can dodge almost anything. But, even that has a limit. When he gets tired, he slows down tremendously." he says. "And his magic talent is unparalleled."

I smile a little. 'You got the physical strength and he got all the magic.' I say.

He smiles a little too and I pull my phone out. "It's true. We're amazing." he says and I snap a picture of his genuine smile. Then he frowns. "Why did you have to ruin the mood?" he growls.

'Because I will never get another chance like that.' I say and set the photo as my wallpaper. I put my sunglasses on, shoving my phone back into my bra, and stand up. I turn before I get to the door to look at him. 'Are we going to tell people we're a thing or..?' I ask.

He rubs his chin, thinking about it. "Probably shouldn't. There are a shit load of engineers that work on the core and live in Snowdin that really hate my guts." he says. "They might want to kill you more if they know you're attached to me somehow."

I nod. 'So don't tell anyone we don't trust. Got it.' I say and turn back around to open the door. I get it part of the way open and I feel Papyrus's gloved hand on my shoulder before he pushes the door back shut. I turn around to look at him.

"The core engineers switch up it's passageways all the time. I'll see if Alphys can help you through them." he says cupping my cheek. "And I want you to know that I am very grateful that you're even considering being in a relationship with me. A mate is something that's very precious to monsters. I'll wait as long as it takes for you you to be ready."

My heart is stampeding my ribcage. That's the most romantic thing anyone's ever said to me. My eyes start to water a little as I get up on my tip-toes to kiss him gently. I slide my weapon behind me and hug him, resting my head on his shoulder. He hugs me back and we start to spark again.

"Be careful out there. There are a lot of monsters that would love to kill you." he whispers.

"I will." I whisper back, letting him go. He hands me the room key.

He nods and lets me open the door. I leave, going towards the lobby as he shuts the door behind me.

Why does it feel like I'm not going to see him again?


	31. Chapter 31: Tarnished Tinkertoy

**I'm sorry that it's been so long since I updated. I was distracted and unmotivated so I started to beta read for a couple people. Go check em out! rbear1231 and Adishailan**

* * *

I drop the keys on the counter and head through the door labeled "CORE". It's a long, dark passageway with a door at the other end that's lit with blue lights. Something lands right in front of me on the bridge. I stumble backwards and raise my weapon.

The giant rectangle twiddles his thumbs. "I'm sorry, human, for all the things that I've had to do to you... I really don't want to.. But I have to do as Alphys says." he says and his body starts to shift, almost transformer style into a Humanoid shape with four eyes and a lovely crop of hair on top. They eyes were a disturbing red, the bottom pair having the white around the eye completely black. Tears are starting to pool in them. On the ends of his arms, are blood red gloves, matching his chest piece and his knee-length heeled boots. There seems to be some serious damage all over him. "She'll take away my body if I don't try my hardest to kill you." he says. "I'd die before that happens."

He wipes the tears from his eyes and he catches a falling microphone as cameras and stagelights descend from the ceiling.

'I don't want to fight you.' I say.

"That's really too bad, darling. I love the spotlight." he says and his empty arms turn into those cannons again. He aims them right at me as this chase-style music starts to play.

My body starts to vibrate and I jump to avoid them, going higher than I normally would. It was a jarring experience and I almost don't find my feet under me as I start to descend.

Where the fuck did that come from?

I stumble and Mettaton starts throwing exploding projectiles at me. It's then that I realize just how thin this bridge really is. I can barely keep my balance and avoid them at the same time.

"I don't normally go off-script, but Alphys insisted that I fight you earlier than scheduled." Mettaton says with an apologetic smile.

There's a schedule?

The explosions are beyond hot and the pressure makes my ears ring. Time to try a different strategy. I can only keep this up for so long and I can barely breathe. I hope my aim is still good. I start trying to shoot the bombs before they get too far out of their barrels. I hit a few, starting a chain reaction up Mettaton's arms. His second set of arms fall off, a bright red liquid flowing from the now exposed joints. The explosion shakes the whole bridge, cracking it in places.

"Oh, that was fabulous, darling. Now, lets see how you handle this!" he says as mini versions of him come crawling out of every orifice in the walls around us like insects.

They surround me and their numbers threaten to over take me. I kick at them and shoot at them, sending them back a few feet onto themselves. Many manage to get up to my ankles, their hands tiny buzz saws trying to separate my foot from my leg. I start using the butt of my paintball gun as a bat, sending them flying. A few, I send at Mettaton who chooses that moment to start throwing bombs at me again. He avoids most of them easily, dodging like I have never seen. But one manages to hit a bomb, exploding in his face.

When the smoke clears, he's standing there, a demented smile on his face. "You're not even close to beating me, darling." he says, his free hand turning into a lazer cannon. He points it at me dramatically and I roll away as it fires at me. I jump and roll to avoid his attacks, sweat dripping down my face and into my eyes. The fumes make it extremely hard to breathe. His lazers graze my legs, my arms, and everywhere else, searing my skin. The smell is disgusting. I stumble near the edge and Mettaton clips my shoulder, tipping my balance.

Time seems to slow down. Stop, even. My sunglasses are flying from my face and I can feel my phone start to slide out of my bra. My heart stops in my chest. After all this pain and perseverance, this is it? My stomach drops as I fall farther and farther from the bridge.

Then suddenly I'm not falling. I feel something wrap around me and I land on something solid. The cheat underneath me is heaving.

"I really don't know how my brother does it." Papyrus says weasing. I sit up slowly.

We're back on the bridge and Mettaton is dumbstruck. "Oh my! What an interesting twist! Beauties and Gentlebeauties, it looks like the Great and Malevolent Papyrus has gone soft for the human." He says, a hand over his mouth. "Well I should probably say 'hard' for the human." He adds with a sly look to one of the cameras.

I get off of Papyrus and stand up slowly. I don't comment and neither does Papyrus. I help him up as he gets his breath back. 'Thank you.' I say. He nods and goes to stand against the door to the resort, his arms crossed.

Mettaton giggles incessantly. "This will be interesting. What drama!" He says, peeking at him over my shoulder.

'Your fight is with me tinker toy.' I say, raising my weapon.

"Oh, I know darling." He says, licking his lips.

That's unsettling.

He goes to turn his hand into a cannon and I shoot him in the eyes. He cries out as he stumbles backwards. I rush him and tackle him to the ground. I pin his shoulders with my knees and I use the butt of my gun to smash the hand cannon, caving it in on itself. He powers it down and glares at me. His knees come up to kick me in the back.

I'm seeing stars as he knees me in the kidneys. I pull out my knife and pop open his front panel. Now every one of of his limbs is desperately fighting me, hitting me repeatedly in the same spots. His feet come up to capture my head, but I keep it ducked between my shoulders. His hands scartch at my face making it difficult to focus on what I'm doing. I go through his wires until I find what's powering the damn thing.

Its labeled. Ha! I find a tube with a little lightening bolt and I yanked that sucker out of its socket. Mettaton freezes and his limbs fall limp. I hold the battery up triumphantly and the cameras turn off.

I stand up slowly and I hear footsteps behind me. Papyrus touches the least injured shoulder and I lean back against his legs. I reach up and hand the battery to Paps. He takes it from me and I slowly stand up. I turn to look at him as his phone takes a picture of the battery and with the flash of the camera, it disappears. He also takes a pitcure of Mettaton and he disappears too.

I'm not even gonna ask.


	32. Chapter 32: Does This Count as a Date?

**Here's the next chapter! I hope you like it. I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates Jerry. When I played the game for the first time, I contemplated on killing just him and ruining my pacifist route.**

* * *

Papyrus hooks my arm in his and takes me back into the hotel.

"Let's go get some food in you." He says. I don't argue.

I keep my eyes closed, trying to rub the dryness and irritation from them. I cough a few times. It still sorta feels like I'm breathing in all that smoke. Papyrus pats my back a little as the adrenaline recedes from my system. Everything hurts. We walk passed the hotel counter and head into a big dining room. He sits me at a table for two and waves a hand for the waiter to come over.

"You have not made a reservation." the snake monster hisses angrily.

"Do you really wanna fight about it?" Papyrus growls. I shove the tip of my gun at the monster's throat. When he looks at me, I give him my scariest glare and unsheath my knife. The poor thing turns pale and pulls out a pad of paper.

"Uhh" he laughs nervously. "Wh-what can I get you?" he asks and I put my gun down. I hold on to my knife so he doesn't get any ideas.

I tell Papyrus what I want and he quickly translates. "The lady wants a cheese burger with ketchup and mustard with french fries on the side. And something cold and carbonated." he says. "I'll take a whisky sour."

The waiter nods and goes off to the kitchen.

I sigh and relax into my chair as much as humanly possible with all the pain I'm in. Papyrus pulls his chair around the table to sit next to me. He sits on it backwards and his hands glow orange on the burn on my shoulder.

'So you were watching all of that?' I ask.

He nods in response.

'How'd I do?' I ask, looking at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Shockingly well. You dodge really well and your aim is good." he says.

'Oh ye of little faith.' I say wincing. It's starting to feel like he's peeling off my skin.

"Hey, I only truly fought you once. I still barely know your skill set." he says. "I believe that there is more to see."

I let out a chuckle. 'You should've seen me with my team. We worked so well together you would've thought that we could read each other's minds.' I say. 'We never liked each other, but we worked well together. Before the incident with those locals at least.' I shut my eyes tight and try to push the memory away.

"What happened?" he asks, looking up for a second.

I point at my neck and give him a look.

He raises an eyebrow. "You never quite explained how that happened." he says, moving to another burn on my back. By now, we have the attention of the entire restaurant.

I wince again and shake my head, loosening my scarf a little.

"Was it really that bad?" he asks.

'Do you not remember the episode you triggered in your kitchen?' I ask, getting really tired now. The memory is inching it's way to the forefront. I push it back again.

He's silent for a moment. "Sans told me that you had said that 'some asshole cut through your larynx' if I remember correctly." he says slowly.

I nod, a pulsing migraine threatening to plague me.

"Would you tell me what happened?" he asks.

'Only if you tell me how you got those scars on your face.' I say tiredly. The waiter chooses then to come out with the food. He sets my plate and glass down in front of me and his glass next to it. I wave him off before he can ask if we need anything else.

He sighs. "I was a boy and dad had just disappeared. I went outside because me and Sans were having an argument." he says. "The monster who owned that bar before Grillby did was out walking. He was in a really bad mood when I bumped into him. I wasn't looking where I was going and if it wasn't for Sans pulling me out of there, that cleaver would've kept going and sliced my skull in half."

'Ouch.' I say.

"Yeah, it bled for a month." he says. "Are you going to talk about your scars now?" he asks.

I sigh softly and push his hands away so I can eat. I take a bite of the burger and take another breath. 'I... Me and my unit were in the field scanning the ground for mines and IEDs so our medics could set up a field hospital. I broke off from the group, after informing them of course, to relieve myself in a nearby patch of bushes.'

I stop for a few minutes, eating a fry and trying to keep the visions away. My hands are shaking as I hold my fists against my face. I rub my face a little.

'The next thing I know, I wake up in a shack, chained to the ceiling. They beat me with a baseball bat like I was a pinata.'

Papyrus interrupts for a second. "What's a pinata?" he asks.

'A paper mache animal filled with candy. It originated in China where they filled it with seeds and used it in a ritual for luck and good harvest. Then the tradition sort of spread all over and everyone used it for all kinds of things. Nowadays it's used at parties where kids are involved. They hit it and candy falls out. It's fun.' I say taking a breath.

Papyrus nods and motions for me to go on, taking a sip of his drink.

'They kept me there for three days. They didn't want anything. They were just really pissed off at our occupation. They wanted to send a message. On the third day, they slit my throat. If it wasn't for my fellow marines finding me right then, I would be dead.' I say and reach for my drink, my hand shaking severely. Tastes like rootbeer. 'I woke up in a M.A.S.H. tent with a doctor putting me back together.'

"M.A.S.H. tent?" he asks.

'Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.' I simplify, setting my drink down. I take another bite of the burger.

"It sounds like there are a lot of humans on the surface." he muses.

'About 7 billion. Almost 8.' I say.

His jaw drops. "How can there possibly be that many?" he exclaims.

'There are humans living in all parts of the world. It's a lot bigger than that little village at the bottom of this mountain. Maybe my phone will pull up a map.' I say and slowly pull out my phone, happy for the change of subject. I open my navigation app and it tells me that I have no signal. I zoom out and show him the map of the entire Earth.

'This is a flat version of the map of the Earth.' I say. 'We're on the giant landmass on the left.'

"You'd think that Alphys would've pulled all the information off of your phone when she integrated it into our network..." he murmurs. "The oceans are huge!"

I nod and use the draw tool to put a dot on where we are exactly. 'That's the general area where we are.' I circle the USA. 'The country we're in is call the United States of America. The continent we're on is called North America.' I circle that too. Then I circle South America. 'That's South America, south of the equator. The equator is where we humans have calculated the exact meridian between the north and south poles.' I say.

"Should I be writing this down?" he asks, taking in all of that information.

I shrug and keep eating.

* * *

 **Who doesn't love a little geography lesson? Lol**


	33. Chapter 33: I Have a Plan I Do

**Howdy ladies and gents! Here I am with another chapter finally!**

* * *

When I finish eating, I pick up my weapon and strap it onto me again. I put my knife back in it's sheath and sip the last drop out of my glass. Papyrus pays the bill and escorts me back to the bridge. We're standing shoulder to shoulder, looking at the doorway illuminated in blue.

'So this is probably going to suck.' I say.

He nods curtly.

'Thanks for dinner.' I say.

"My pleasure." he says. "Promise me that you won't expire in there."

'Now why would I do that?' I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know. It sounds like something you would do to spite me." Papyrus says, crossing his arms as he turns to face me.

I keep a smile off of my face. 'Marines never die.' I say.

"What's a Marine?" he asks.

'Soldiers that never quit.' I say.

"I see. How annoying." he says, a small smirk on his face.

'Not nearly as annoying as you.' I say.

He rolls his eyes. "As if." he says. "Get moving, Asgore is waiting for you."

I raise an eyebrow. 'What? You're not coming with me?"

"No. I've been ordered not to."

'Based on your track record, I'd say that is very uncharacteristic.'

He sighs. "There are some lines you don't cross. This one came straight from him."

I shake my head. 'All the clandestine things you've been doing so far, and taking a walk with me is where you draw the line.'

He growls at this, stepping really close. I feel his breath on my face. "Don't argue with me, Human!" he says, voice low.

I plant a teasing kiss on his jaw and step away. 'If that's how you really feel." I say walking backwards towards the blue door. 'See you around bone head.'

He reaches up into his chest plate and pulls out something that looks like a ziplock bag filled with red balls. He tosses it to me. "A gift from Alphys." He grumbles and goes back into the hotel.

I raise an eyebrow and reload as I make my way into the blue lit hallway.

* * *

Jeez, this place is a maze. The elevator isn't working, forcing me to choose a corridor to go down. I first choose left and immediately I feel the room moving. Are they really switching the rooms around while I'm in them? There are cameras everywhere, how do they not know I'm here? Unless... They're doing it on purpose.

Great.

So now I have to figure out this puzzle as it moves. I go into the next section of hallway, a door slamming behind me. This room starts to spin too. When it stops, I look up near the ceiling, looking for wires. There are pipes running along the ceiling. I unsheith my knife and tap on them. Looks feels like pvc, but honestly it could be something else entirely.

I saw into it with my knife and cut a section of it open. I tug the wires down to where I could reach it comfortably and start cutting them to find out what each one does. There's about a dozen wires, each a different color.

I cut the red one first. It starts to get really hot really fast. I twist it back together and it cools down again. I cut the dark blue one. The lights go out but there's still an electrical humming in the walls. I twist that back together. Then I go for the green one. The humming stops. I twist it back together and set it aside. The yellow one holds the door behind me closed and the orange one closes the door in front of me. I leave those cut. I test a few of the other wires before I found the one that makes the room spin. It was purple. Now, let's hope that it's the same for all of the rooms.

I shoot the floor with a paintball, marking a number one into the floor with my foot. Progress.

I do this for a couple rooms, marking the floor and playing with the wires. I even manage to turn a few hallway to get to new rooms. I manage to pocket 800g and I found where some poor sod left his lunch. I place the money in the lunchbox and secure it to the small of my back with the strap from my weapon.

I go through a few more rooms, narrowly avoiding several terrifying-looking guards that were lying in wait. I finally get to the end hallway with the working elevator. I touch the diamond, get in it, and take a rest, sitting down on the floor. My phone rings. I pull it out of my bra and answer.

"Looks like humans are smarter than I thought. I didn't want to, but it looks like I'll have to rewire the puzzle." Alphys says.

"Run 'em _inside_ the wall this time." I whisper. "Keeps small children and idiots like me from electrocuting themselves."

She laughs. "You may be right."

"And the dogs can't chew on them either." I add.

She laughs harder. "Are there really dogs on the surface?"

"Yeah, but none of them are monsters." I say. "Smarter too."

She snorts. "Oh look, even Papyrus is laughing."

I smile. "Good. He needs to loosen the fuck up. All of you do. This shit you are forced to do down here won't fly on the surface. It'll be better."

It's gone oddly silent on the other end.

"Killing is not ok unless it's in self defense or in a war setting." I say.

More silence.

"I can't promise you that it'll be perfect, but I can promise you that it'll be better." I say. There are so many things I want to say. All of it cheesy rebellion motivation.

"If you ever want to live on the surface in any kind of peace, you need to be united. Not every human is like me. Not every human is going to be sympathetic to your struggle. With the hell you've endured all these years." I say. "Everybody needs somebody at their six, and I want you to know that I have yours. All of yours. Nobody deserves this life. Nobody."

More silence.

After a few minutes. "You should be a motivational speaker. Shit like that might actually boost morale." Sans says. His voice sounds like he's a few feet away from the mic. And then there's a smacking sound.

"How do you plan on breaking the barrier?" Papyrus asks, skeptically.

"Well, if you truly have six other human souls, it shouldn't be too much of a problem." I say. "If what you say is true, and human souls are powerful, then all I should have to do is ask nicely."

It's so quiet on the other end you could hear a pin drop.

"THATS IT?! JUST ASK NICELY?!" Alphys shouts. I have to pull the phone away for a second.

"Yeah, that's the plan." I say.

"Why would that even work?" Sans asks.

"Let me tell you something about humans: when they believe in something, they give their all." I say. "If I can convince them them that breaking the barrier is the right thing to do, that barrier will be broken, with or without a monster soul."

"When I've tried to talk to them, they've been unresponsive." Alphys says.

"Well that's because you're a monster. They were killed by monsters and forced to reside in whatever container you have them trapped in." I say, standing up to tap the button. The elevator starts moving. "They probably want to move on like they're supposed to and be with the loved ones that went to the other side without them."

"Hmm... Maybe you will be able to get a response from them. But you will probably have to defeat their jailor in front of them to get them to trust you. You might actually have to fight Asgore." Undyne says out of nowhere.

"This plan is terrible." Papyrus growls.

"But it's the only plan I have." I say and hang up.

* * *

 **Please let me know what you think! Any thought is appreciated!**


	34. Chapter 34: Plants DO Have Feelings

**Quick reminder:**

 **Text/written:** Looks like this

 **Regular speaking:** "Looks like this"

 **Signing:** 'Looks like this'

 **Alright are we all on the same page? Good lol**

* * *

Elevators on this place move around on the same level as Willy Won't. I feel myself being pulled up, down, sideways, and backwards. It's crazy and genius. The elevator opens and I'm met with a gentle breeze and what sounds like subdued city noises. I step out of the elevator and round the corner.

Wow.. I didn't know the Underground was this big. The gigantic cavern is lit by a glowing ceiling, showing me exactly what lies below: buildings and skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. It looks like a human city. I've never seen Hong Kong, but maybe this is what it looks like. The tallest buildings barely touch the ceiling of the cavern and I can see that some buildings are being built higher to accommodate for overpopulation.

These people need to get out of here.

"Hey, Frisk." Flowey says, almost making me jump out of my skin. I put my hand on my chest, trying to slow my heart rate.

"Sorry.." he says when I give him a half-hearted glare.

I pull out my phone as I knew down and type a message onto the screen. How have you been?

"Good, I guess." He says slowly. He looks really depressed. "I hear you're going to free us..."

I nod. I can't leave you guys down here.

"I saw your fight with Mettaton." He says. "You did pretty good."

I smile a little. Thanks buddy.

"I also saw how you got through the core. It was brilliant." He says, smiling a little. "I never thought about getting through that way. When I was little, I would always have Alphys run the puzzle for me so I could solve it. I was never any good at it."

I smile. How old are you anyways? I ask.

He freezes up at this question, getting a little pale. "I... I don't know.." he says and he gets this really guilty look on his face. "I don't know how to answer that.."

I brush the petals out of his face. "Hey, it's ok. I'm not here to judge you." I whisper.

He looks up at me in amazement and leans into my hand a little.

I scoop my hand into the dirt and uproot him gently. "If you don't want to talk about it, it's ok. We don't have to." I whisper.

"How can you can talk..?" He asks softly. "I never asked last time... You told me when we met that you couldn't.."

I nod. Papyrus healed my neck some. I say, touching my scarf and looking away.

"So you guys are really a thing now aren't you?" He asks, eyebrows furrowed.

I nod again. He tells me that my soul resonates with his. I say, looking at him. He's wide eyed. Then after a few minutes, his eyebrows furrowed as he mulls it over.

"You haven't mated with him yet have you?" He asks.

Only with our bodies. I say, a heat rising to my face as I look away again. I glance at him and he's blushing too. I told him that I don't outright reject him. I told him we should try an actual relationship before we went from barely friends to basically married.

"So you're not going to for a while are you?" He asks.

I nod.

"I really don't know why you're sharing this with me.." he says "We barely know each other and you're spilling your secrets.."

I shrug. You're the first real friend I've had in a long time. I feel like I can talk to you.

"Don't you have any human friends?" He asks.

Well, I was starting to make friends before I fell. I never really had anyone I could call friend. I say. We were on a hike. We had just stopped for lunch.

"Oh.." he says.

I sigh and tell him about my childhood in the most summerized way possible. And then I tell him about my unit while I was in the service. And then about the reason I couldn't talk. We sit there for a long while as I tell him my story. He listens without a single word of judgement. I tell him about my life on the surface: my job, my house, the huge community of people who can only speak with their hands.

"Wow.. the surface sounds so cool..." He says.

I nod, not saying anything for a while. I stand up and sit on the ledge, looking out at the Capital. I set Flowey on my shoulder. Jeez, I am soooo procrastinating. "You got a family, Flowey?" I whisper.

"Used to." He says softly.

What happened? I ask, not looking at him.

"I... I died." He says softly.

I look at him. "But you're right here... Alive..."

"I don't have a soul anymore.." he says, a big tear running down his face. "All I feel is pain.. and echos of the emotions I used to feel. I can't ever see my family, because they'd kill me on the spot. Even if I explained what happened to me, they would still kill me."

So you're the one from Alphys's tapes.

His petals start to lose their coloring. "You know about me?" He asks, fear thick in his voice.

Only that she brought you back from the dead. The tape didn't specify who you were. Just that you came back mostly the same person you were when you died. I say.

"W-well.. I.." he says softly, looking down. "I used to be called Asriel Dreemurr. My parents are Toriel and Asgore."

I blink in surprise. "Were you fluffy?" I ask.

He looks at me and snorts at my hopeful expression. He's trying really hard not to laugh.

I smile. Mission accomplished. You don't have to tell me any more if you don't want too.

"N-no. It's time somebody knew." He says. "Well, it's time someone told you. It's all over those plaques in Waterfall."

I raise an eyebrow.

"I died because I was taking my adopted sibling to his village...to his favorite patch of flowers." He says. "The humans attacked me out of fear. I took my brother back home with me and I fell to dust right there in the throne room. I woke up again who knows how many years later as a flower. A shadow of my former self. I wouldn't wish this fate upon my worst enemy."

I pet his petals gently. How did you get across the barrier? I ask.

"My brother was human. I absorbed his soul and crossed it. A monster can absorb human souls and gain more power." He says.

Then what's this trip about needing seven souls?

"Seven humans built the barrier, seven will break it." He says. "And we can't wait for thousands of humans to fall to fee everyone."

I see. Thanks for telling me.

He smiles a little and hops off my shoulder. "You should get going. He's waiting." He says. "Up ahead is a house. It looks exactly like the one in the ruins. Can't miss it. I'm sure you can find your way from there."

I nod and smile. I wave goodbye and go on my merry way. One more obstacle.

* * *

 **Review please! I needs input por favor!**


	35. Chapter 35: Time to Face the Music

**Well, here's another chapter! I probably should've put more thought into it, but I wrote what came to me. My muse was being kind.**

* * *

Flowey was right. The house looks exactly like Toriel's. Or, rather, Toriel's is like this one. I touch the diamond and it shattered, making me feel warm all over. All my hesitation is gone.

It looks the same except this one has wilted buttercups everywhere. In vases, on the floor, growing on the ceiling... Wow, this place is weird. I explore the rooms. They look the same too, except the children's room. There are two beds in here. And the wardrobe has enough striped shirts to clothe a whole orphanage. And not a single moth hole in any of them.

Note to self: Invest in monster-made clothes when this is all over.

I leave the room and hop the chains to go downstairs. It's a little chilly down here. I get one more peek at the Capital before I find myself in a long hallway, golden light filtering in through the large cathedral-like windows. I touch the diamond right in front of the doorway and I stop when I see Sans. He's standing halfway between me and the way forward.

'What, are you the last line of defense or something?' I ask.

"Hit it right on the head, sweetheart." He says, smiling lazily. "King says I gotta kill ya for not obeying the law."

I narrowed my eyes. 'Are you sure you don't remember that incident with the rope monster?' I say. I feel sick just thinking about it. I shake myself. Stop. There's nothing you can do about it now.

Sans opens an eye socket. "Well, looks I don't have to, then." He says. "But I have to ask: what do you plan on doing? Are you going to kill him? Because I doubt he'll stop and listen to you."

'Does he speak in hands?' I ask

"Yeah, he understands. He and my old man were tight." He says, shrugging.

I nod. This isn't going to be easy. 'What's his weapon of choice?' I ask.

"Spears." He says.

'Thanks buddy.' I say and head towards the exit. I pass him and he lets me go without a word. When I get to the door, I turn to look at him and he's gone. Soon after, I find myself in a throne room. A large goat monster dressed in black armor with a long red cape sat in a large metal throne. A gigantic patch of wilted buttercups were growing out of the marble flooring. All along the walls and floor were giant claw marks and scorch marks marring the finery. It looked like a battle had taken place here.

I look up at the king, his crown glinting in the light pouring in from cracks in the ceiling. He stands up and I notice six floating hearts in canisters next to his chair.

"Took you long enough, human." He says impatiently. "It's high time I invaded the surface." A helmet slides into place on his head and a glowing red spear appears in his right hand.

'Not one for words are you?' I ask and quickly jump to the side, out of the way of his spear thrust. I unclip the lunchbox from my back, letting it clatter to the floor. He swings at me and I roll out of the way. When I get to my feet again, I fire at his helmet. When he's distracted, I run up and slam the butt of my gun into his right armpit. He stumbles back and drops the spear, clutching his armpit but he he slams his elbow down on me when I try to get behind him.

I fall to the floor, the breath knocked out of me. He takes off his face mask and throws it away from him. He wipes the paint off his face and kicks me in the side, launching me into the wall. This definitely should have killed me, but I'm grateful it didn't. I fall to the floor again and roll myself to my side.

"This is where you die, human. Start praying to whatever deity you believe in." Asgore growls out as he walks towards me.

I fire into his eyes again. Two shots this time. He growls and I shakily get up off the floor. I fire again at his face, hitting him in the forehead.

I hope he finds this incredibly annoying. I keep shooting at him, slowly making my way towards the spear. Maybe I can cut his chest plate off. I manage to pick it up, putting down my paintball gun. The damn thing burns. I swing it at him a few times, successfully cutting at his chest plate. It falls off in a loud clatter to the floor. Asgore roars in pain and charges at me, materializing another spear. I deflect his thrusts, but barely. He knocks me off balance and slams the butt of his spear into my chest, sending me flying again.

"Dirty tactics, human." Asgore growls as he wipes the paint off his face again.

I have nothing to fire at him this time, the large goat monster between me and my weapon. He walks towards me and I stand up again. Everything hurts and I can barely breathe. I drop the spear and pull out my knife and spread my legs a little. Everything is getting very blurry. I shake my head, trying to clear my vision, but that just makes me dizzy. I feel something warm trickle down the back of my head. I need to get to the lunchbox.

"My subordinates were not kidding when they said you were a warrior." He says, thrusting his spear at me again.

I twist out of the way but he cuts my side. Shit. I twist and dance out of the way of his thrusts, trying to find an opening. There aren't many. I cut at his hands when I get close enough, forcing him to drop his spear again. I quickly dash towards the lunch box. I open it and start eating the monster food. Now he's throwing spears at me. I feel my strength returning and some of the aches are disappearing. My vision returns and my dizziness is gone.

I run around the room to avoid his spears. At least they're not coming out of the floor. When I get close to my gun, I duck into a slide to avoid the latest spear, picking it up. I shoot at his exposed chest and stomach. That's definitely gonna leave a bruise but he's nowhere near done. I keep moving, moving in a serpentine pattern to avoid his attacks, getting closer with every second. When I manage to get close enough, I come at him from the side and bury my knife near his hip, pulling it up as I pull it out.

He roars again and I kick the back of his leg, forcing him to his knees. I drop my gun, grab his mane, and hold my knife at his throat. His crown falls from his head. The ding of metal on the floor sounds almost like a bell. I kick his hand, forcing him to drop his spear. "Do you yield?" I whisper in his ear.

"Never." He growls, attempting to stab me with yet another spear.

Without thinking, I slide the knife across his neck, spilling his blood on the floor. I let go and he falls to the floor. And he turns to dust.


	36. Chapter 36: Carnival of Souls

**No, you're not dreaming. Two chapters at once! Watch out when you go outside! Don't want the sky falling on ya!**

* * *

I cry out as power surges through me, my shaking uncontrollable as a giant white upside down heart floats before me. I just stare at it. I took another life... Something I didn't think I was going to do again. I... I better tell someone...

I pull out my phone and go to take a picture of it. In the settings, there's a "store" option. I press it, and when the camera flashes, it disappears. Just like Mettaton did into Papyrus's phone.

Maybe Flowey would enjoy having a soul again... Even if it isn't his own.

I pull myself together enough to call Papyrus. He answers on the first ring.

"Frisk?" He asks.

"Can you come here please?" I ask softly. He hangs up and he and Sans appear in the doorway. I look up at them. The shocked looks on their faces and the way the manage to get paler make me look down again in shame. I hug myself and tuck myself into my legs. I can't breathe.

"Holy shit, Frisk." Sans manages to choke out.

I feel a hand on my back. "Frisk calm down. You're ok. We're ok. No one is upset. No one thinks less of you." Papyrus says.

"If anything, you're cooler now." Sans says.

I look up slowly. Papyrus I kneeling next to me. I lean into him for a short while, saying nothing as he rubs my back. I grab my weapon, put my phone away, and sit up. Paps stands up and helps me up. He checks me over for injuries. He puts his hands on my chest and they glow orange as he concentrates. I let him, mind blank.

After a while, he nods. His right eye glows orange for a moment. "Well Frisk, your Level of Violence has skyrocketed since the last time I Checked. You might actually be stronger than me now, so if we manage to get out of this hellhole, you will have to be gentle with the other humans." He says.

I nod. And look at my free hand, wondering just how strong I am now. Have I turned I to a monster? Will I want to keep killing? No... I don't think so. I would already be feeling that way.

"What did you do with his soul?" Sans asks from behind me.

I turn around and pull my phone back out. I flip through my photos and show him.

He blinks at it, confused. Looks like he's not sure what to think.

'Will you guys look for Flowey for me?' I ask.

"Ok, sure. Why?" Sans says.

'I want to give this to him.' I say.

The skeletons look at me like I'm growing a second head.

'He doesn't have a soul.' I say. 'I figure that the son should inherit everything his father left behind.'

Their eye sockets are the size of dinner plates.

I sigh. 'Ask Alphys. Please find him.' And with that, I put my phone away and head out the way I came in, picking up the lunchbox as I leave.

I take the elevator and somehow, it opens up to Alphys's lab. I shrug and step out. I climb up to the loft and make myself comfortable on her couch. I am so tired.

* * *

I am shaken awake by a disgruntled Alphys. She's in her PJs with a bath robe over the top.

"What are you doing here?" She growls.

'This was the closest place I felt safe enough in to sleep.' I say. 'I didn't want to walk all the way to Snowdin.'

She growls again and shakes her head and checks her phone. "Seven missed calls from Papyrus and eight from Undyne. No one is allowed to sleep anymore." She huffs and she calls one of them back.

I sit up as she walks away to talk to whoever she called. I yawn and stretch before standing up. I slowly go down the ladder and walk towards the elevator. She turns to face me, her skin pale. So now she knows.

I smile sadly and say 'Thanks for letting me crash here. I'll call you later.' I say and get into the elevator. She runs goes down the ladder really quickly. 'If that's Papyrus, tell him I'm heading back to the throne room.' I say.

She nods and says nothing. I hit the button I want and it lets me out near the throne really room. I walk out and head in. The dust is gone and the souls have been left untouched. It's then that I notice that I don't have my paintball gun with me. I pick them all up, my newfound strength surprising me. I take them through the only other doorway and it's there that I see the barrier. The souls start to glow wildly.

I sigh and sit down, setting the souls around me in a semi circle. "Guys.." I whisper "I need your help."

They glow bright simultaneously. I feel that they are eager to help the one who brought justice to that tyrant.

"Will you help me break the barrier?" I ask.

The glowing dims.

"Think about the monsters you don't see... The ones who feel just as trapped as you are in these jars. Please... Have Mercy." I say softly. "I know no one showed you any but they didn't have a choice. And you do."

They start to pulse. I can feel them actually thinking about it. One expresses their fear of the monsters' capacity for violence.

"They can be better, I know it." I say. "Asgore is the one that made that stupid law. The monsters are miserable following it. You wouldn't like it either if you had to kill your neighbors on a daily basis."

The souls mull that over.

"No one deserves this. Please... Help me break the barrier..." I say softly.

My soul slides out of my chest and glows brightly with them.

I smile widely. I feel their energy all around me as they free themselves from the canisters. They circle around me at blinding speeds and I walk up to the barrier. I put both hands on the barrier and push with all my might, willing it to crumble into pieces. The light around me is suddenly blinding. I keep pushing and pushing, giving it everything I have. And so do the souls. I'm screaming with the effort if it.

Suddenly I feel it give a little. I look up, large cracks in the barrier. "That's it!" I say as loud as I can. "We can do this! Don't give up!"

The souls glow brighter with Determination, shining as bright as seven sun's. They spin illogically faster. Somewhere behind me, I hear someone yell something, but the ringing is so loud, I can't hear what they say. I push harder and harder, their power fueling mine.

It shatters like glass, the magic floating away like snowflakes. The souls flicker gratefully and disappear. "Thank you." I whisper.


	37. Chapter 37: Just Like Everyone Else

**I posted this so soon bc I just couldn't wait anymore. Here it is lol**

* * *

I collapse on the ground, exhausted.

"Frisk!"

It's Papyrus. He rolls me onto my back and I can see his thinly veiled worry. I smile a little and pat his chest.

'I'm ok.' I sign tiredly. 'I'm not dead yet.'

His eye glows briefly and he nods as he helps me sit up. This is when I notice Flowey at my feet. I smile at him. I rap my knuckles on Papyrus's chest, getting his attention so he can translate.

'Hey buddy. I have something for you.' I say.

"So I've been told.." he says, half-smiling.

I pull out my phone and show him Asgore's soul.

The color drains from his petals and leaves, the smile fading. "I... I... W-w-what?" he says. "N-no way... There's no way h-he's d-d-dead..." He starts to back away from me. He looks up into my eyes and he whispers, "You killed him?"

I nod slowly. 'Do you want this?' I ask.

He shakes himself, closing his eyes tight, covering his face with his leaves.

I touch one of his leaves gently to regain his attention again. He jumps in fright. There are tears in his eyes. 'I need to know if you want it.' I say.

He looks away, trying to form words. "I... I don't know what I want." he says, voice broken. "I don't know how I feel about this..."

'There's only one way to find out.' I say, offering him my phone.

He looks at it for a long minute, touching the screen gently. Then he looks back up at me.

'I would think that he wouldn't mind letting his son have his soul. Especially since I'm sure that he's the one that sanctioned the experiments that brought you into this existence.' I say. 'I'd say he owes you.'

He squeezes his eyes shut again.

Papyrus sighs. "Just because you look away, doesn't mean it's not there." he says. "Pull yourself together. It happened and there's no way we can change it now. Make a decision. Now."

Flowey looks up at him.

"We can't wait here all day." Papyrus growls.

He looks down at the phone again, leaves shaking. "I-I don't think I'll ever have this o-opportunity again..." he says, rubbing his head and trying to rationalize. He takes a deep breath. "I'll take it."

I nod and pull it out of my phone. The camera flashes and the giant upside down heart appears. Flowey grabs hold of it with both leaves, hesitating for a moment before swallowing it whole. It was a little disturbing. His mouth sort of unhinged like a snake. Then he started to glow, his body bulging outward, his skin bubbling like boiling water. He screams. His leaves jut out violently, suddenly turning into humanoid arms. His petals fall out and his head expands, ears flopping down, and short, stubbed horns breaking through the skin. An animalistic snout shoots out of his face, his canines sharp and pointed. His stem turns into a humanoid torso. If he managed to grow legs, they and his hips were buried beneath the dirt. He finally stopped screaming as the change slowed to a halt.

He looked sickly thin, his muscles atrophied, and his skin an angry red. I believe he's supposed to have fur. He's barely holding himself up, his breathing ragged. Papyrus puts a hand on his back and it glows orange. The kid flinches in pain.

I suppose we can't call him Flowey anymore.

The poor thing is weak and trembling. I have never seen anything-human or animal-this skinny before. He needs some food yesterday.

"His condition is the worst I have ever seen." Papyrus says, confirming my thoughts. "He will need lots of rest and plenty of monster food if he has any chance of recovering."

I nod and it looks like Asriel has passed out. I start helping Papyrus dig him out. I notice that he has a little nub at the base of his spine. Ah, a tail. I get up and Papyrus gently picks up him up. I tap Papyrus's shoulder.

'Do you recognize him?' I ask.

He looks at the prince's face. "I'm not sure. There's a reason behind this form? I just thought he took the form of the king since he absorbed his soul." he says.

I shake my head, smiling a little as I check my phone. 8:30pm. Almost time for the sun to set. 'When you get him settled, spread the word that Asgore is dead and the law has been appealed.' I say and his brow bones go up in surprise. 'And tell them that they'll all get more details in the morning. In the meantime, grab the girls and your brother and join me outside to watch the sun set.'

He narrows his eyes at me. "Where do you get off giving me orders?" he growls.

I glare right back. 'Don't argue, just do it.' I say and head outside, not saying another word.

I walk through the trees for a while and find myself standing on a cliff that's overlooking the town below. It's a way better view than that hill just outside of town. I've forgotten how wonderful mountain air smells. And it's like I'm hearing birds sing for the first time. It's the most beautiful thing that I've heard in what feels like ages. I could kiss the ground beneath my feet. I sit on the ledge and look up at the sky. Looks like I forgot how open it is. The clouds float by without a care in the world. This is how the world is: calm and carefree. At least in this little corner of the world.

I check my phone again. Looks like I have a signal. I want to message my friends and co-workers, but I'm not so sure that its a good idea. If they rush to where I am, they might fear my new friends and freak out. The monsters are complete aliens to the outside world. Other humans just wouldn't understand. And Gods-forbid the American government finds them first. They'd all be guinea pigs for however long they see fit.

I sigh, laying on my back.

What feels like ages later, the monsters actually join me. 'Took you long enough.' I say. 'The sun is about to set.'

Papyrus sits next to me, Sans on his other side. "That's the sun? It's smaller than I thought it would be." he says in awe.

"I feel like I'm going to fall into the sky..." Sans mutters, a grin on his face.

They're all were in awe. Alphys and Undyne have yet to say a word, their mouths hanging open. It's truly a hilarious sight. I smile and sit up. 'Did you tell everyone?' I ask Papyrus.

He looks at me and nods. "The social media backlash was incredible." he says. "I'm glad I don't get reception out here. My phone was getting more notifications than it can process properly." Then he forcefully grabs my hand and looks back out at the sun. Sans wiggles his brow bones suggestively at the display. I roll my eyes and smile at his antics.

As it touches the horizon, the sky changes colors. They take it all in, Alphys taking a video with her phone. I smile at them. I have taken sunsets for granted. I'm glad that I'm experiencing this with them. I'm glad that I broke the barrier. They're free now. Free to enjoy the breeze, free to enjoy the sky, the clouds, the sun. Just like everybody else.

* * *

 **Th-th-th-th-th-th-tha-that's all folks! Let me know what you think! Sequel or no sequel?**


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